To team Obama - Once more into the breach
Politics gets you down when it becomes clear that a candidate is appealing to voters' fears, prejudices, and the lesser angels of our nature. This is why I support Barack Obama, because it's time for that to stop. This time can, and must, be different.
So for all the staffers, volunteers, supporters, donors, who I've been proud to be a part of, get your game on. Tomorrow is the moment. One last shot of O-Train positivity, from my new favorite Youtube, to all the folks out there who have been busting their asses to take our politics out of this spiral of craptastitutde, and into a better place. Go get 'em, Team Obama. You're doin' it the right way.
http://blog.oh02.com/
Not "into." You're welcome!
Because I'm not sure this kind of positivity will continue past tuesday.
Rush Limbaugh has been asking Republicans to vote for Hillary in Texas in order to continue the Democratic contest:
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/03/03/limbaugh-urges-listeners-to-vote-for-clinton/
Polls show that Hillary leads by a wide margin among Republicans voting in the Democratic primary and she's likely going to win Texas and Ohio, thanks to her kitchen sink. If anyone thinks Obama will not return the favor, they're terribly mistaken.
While McCain seals his nomination on tuesday, Democrats continue to beat the living hell out of each other. It's going to be over for Democrats .. just when I thought Texas and Ohio will be King makers, apparently, it's going to come down to North Carolina. Too bad!
Each time I've heard an attack on Obama, especially the last few days, It has only helped to let me know that I made the right choice when I placed my vote for Barack Obama. Thank you for all the work you've done to help see this hope and dream of a better country come true.
OBAMA 2008 THROUGH 2016
Senator Obama is qualified. You have not done your homework.
How did Hillary Clinton prepare for the Oval Office? Was it her six year's sitting on the board of Wal-Mart? She had no qualms working for this corporation that is notoriously anti-union and anti-health care insurance for its employees.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtdwcbqeE5s
Check out this video (link above) for footage of Senator Clinton during that time.
As to the Rezco Issue. This is what FactCheck.org has to say about it:
"According to an investigation last year by the Chicago Sun-Times, Antoin Rezko was involved in developing at least 30 low-income housing buildings in Chicago, in partnership with several community groups and using a combination of taxpayer and private funds. A number of the buildings fell into disrepair, collecting housing code violations, and Rezmar, Rezko's company, was sued on many occasions."
"Obama was associated with a law firm that represented the community groups working with Rezko on several deals. There's no evidence that Obama spent much time on them, and he never represented Rezko directly. So it was wrong for Clinton to say he was "representing ... Rezko." That's untrue."
"Obama has known Rezko, however, since he left Harvard Law School, and Rezko has been a major contributor and campaign fundraiser for him since Obama's first campaign for the Illinois state Senate. Earlier, we looked into questions about a land deal in which the two wound up with adjacent parcels. No wrongdoing was found in connection with that transaction, though Obama has said it was "boneheaded" for him to be involved in it when he knew Rezko was under investigation. Rezko has since been indicted on fraud and other charges. Obama, who returned some contributions from Rezko and his associates long ago, returned another $41,000 over the weekend in an effort to distance himself from the businessman."
His association with this man is not the best, and Senator Obama acknowledges that. On the other hand it is also not what it is being portrayed as.
Hillary Clinton has been a Senator 3 years longer than Senator Obama. She is still considered a Junior member of the Senate. She has never held any other elected office. Her experience as first lady of the US and Arkansas are great, but she had no security clearance and was not privileged to top level discussions. She was married to the president. She was not the president.
Senator George Mitchell: "Hillary Clinton has repeatedly cited her White House years as key to why she has the ability to serve as president from "Day One." Both she and her husband have pointed to her "independent" role in bringing peace to Northern Ireland as an example of her foreign policy experience. Her critics, notably former Clinton pollster Dick Morris, have poured scorn on her claim that she was "intimately involved" in the peace process. So who is right? [...] she accompanied her husband as first lady on those four occasions, so they were hardly "independent" visits. (She would sometimes fly in a day early to give a lecture.) [...] I just spoke to Senator George Mitchell, the Clinton administration's leading Northern Ireland peace negotiator, who said that Hillary was "not involved directly" in the diplomatic negotiations that led to the landmark April 1998 Good Friday agreement on power-sharing. On the other hand, Mitchell credits Clinton with taking an intelligent interest in the issues and getting acquainted with many of the key players. [...] Chris Thornton, a political reporter for the Belfast Telegraph, said that Hillary Clinton's visits to northern Ireland contributed to the "mood music" that made an eventual settlement possible, but were hardly key to reaching an agreement. "Would we have reached a settlement without that kind of stuff? Yes. Would we have got one without the intervention of Bill Clinton and George Mitchell? No." Hillary is making a lot more of her Northern Ireland role on the campaign trail than she did in her memoir "Living History." As the Boston Globe recently noted, her stories of bringing Protestant and Catholic women together have become more dramatic with each retelling. The claim that she brought Catholics and Protestants together "for the first time" seems dubious. This would not be the first time that she has mixed up her chronology. [Washington Post, Fact Checker, 1/10/08]
Newsweek: Clinton Cited First Lady-Trips As Foreign Policy Experience- "Laura Bush Has Also Traveled Extensively" And "No One Is Saying She Has The Experience." Clinton's aides point to her extensive travel to more than 80 countries as First Lady and her 1995 speech at a U.N. conference on women in Beijing as proof for her foreign policy experience. "Laura Bush has also traveled extensively as First Lady, taking in 68 countries either with her husband or on her own. No one is saying she has the experience to be commander in chief." [Newsweek, 8/6/07]
Clinton Did Not Hold A Security Clearance And Did Not Attend National Security Meetings. "During those two terms in the White House, Mrs. Clinton did not hold a security clearance. She did not attend National Security Council meetings. She was not given a copy of the president's daily intelligence briefing. She did not assert herself on the crises in Somalia, Haiti and Rwanda." [NYT, 12/26/07]
Barack Obama has a solid plan. He also has a solid record of accomplishments.
Here is a link to his "Blue Print for Change." http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/ObamaBlueprintForChange.pdf
Accomplishments:
Federal Ethics Reform: Obama and Senator Feingold (D-WI) took on both parties and proposed ethics legislation that was described as the "gold standard" for reform. It was because of their leadership that ending subsidized corporate jet travel, mandating disclosure of lobbyists' bundling of contributions, and enacting strong new restrictions of lobbyist-sponsored trips became part of the final ethics bill that was signed into law. The Washington Post wrote in an editorial, "The final package is the strongest ethics legislation to emerge from Congress yet."
Google for Government: Americans have the right to know how their tax dollars are spent, but that information has been hidden from public view for too long. That's why Barack Obama and Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) passed a law to create a Google-like search engine to allow regular people to approximately track federal grants, contracts, earmarks, and loans online. The Chicago Sun-Times wrote, "It would enable the public to see where federal money goes and how it is spent. It's a brilliant idea."
Illinois Reform: In 1998, Obama joined forces with former U.S. Sen. Paul Simon (D-IL) to pass the toughest campaign finance law in Illinois history. The legislation banned the personal use of campaign money by Illinois legislators and banned most gifts from lobbyists. Before the law was passed, one organization ranked Illinois worst among 50 states for its campaign finance regulations.
In the U.S. Senate, Obama introduced the STOP FRAUD Act to increase penalties for mortgage fraud and provide more protections for low-income homebuyers, well before the current subprime crisis began.
American Jobs: Barack Obama introduced the Patriot Employer Act of 2007 to provide a tax credit to companies that maintain or increase the number of full-time workers in America relative to those outside the US; maintain their corporate headquarters in America; pay decent wages; prepare workers for retirement; provide health insurance; and support employees who serve in the military.
Support Israel's Right to Self Defense: During the July 2006 Lebanon war, Barack Obama stood up strongly for Israel's right to defend itself from Hezbollah raids and rocket attacks, cosponsoring a Senate resolution against Iran and Syria's involvement in the war, and insisting that Israel should not be pressured into a ceasefire that did not deal with the threat of Hezbollah missiles. He believes strongly in Israel's right to protect its citizens.
Obama has taken bipartisan action to secure nuclear weapons and materials:
He joined Senator Dick Lugar in passing a law to help the United States and our allies detect and stop the smuggling of weapons of mass destruction throughout the world.
He joined Senator Chuck Hagel to introduce a bill that seeks to prevent nuclear terrorism, reduce global nuclear arsenals, and stop the spread of nuclear weapons.
Health Insurance: In 2003, Barack Obama sponsored and passed legislation that expanded health care coverage to 70,000 kids and 84,000 adults. In the U.S. Senate, Obama cosponsored the Healthy Kids Act of 2007 and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) Reauthorization Act of 2007 to ensure that more American children have affordable health care coverage.
Women's Health: Obama worked to pass a number of laws in Illinois and Washington to improve the health of women. His accomplishments include creating a task force on cervical cancer, providing greater access to breast and cervical cancer screenings, and helping improve prenatal and premature birth services.
Looks like I hit a nerve here.
I did not say that Senator Obama has more experience than Senator Clinton. My implication was that her experience is not what she claims it to be. She continually tries to portray that he has no experience. This is not the case.
I stand by my belief that Senator Clinton is a Junior Senator from NY. Yes, she has traveled the world as the First Lady. Being married to the president does not give you the same experience as being the president.
I've been married for 27 years. You bet I share my husband's life. But I certainly don't share the responsibilities of his job. I would not go to my doctor's spouse for medical treatment.
Senator Clinton has been through the wringer, both in her personal life and in her professional life. I can admire that. It's not enough for me to vote for her.
I feel she is not genuine. I truly dislike her time on the board of Wal-Mart. And more importantly, her omission of it from her line up of jobs and accomplishments.
I support Senator Obama for many reasons. He is bringing people to the political process that have been side-lined for years. He asks people to step up to the plate and help solve the problems, as that is truly the only way it can be done.
He has a 20 year record of putting himself out there, registering voters, helping working class families with tax cuts, actually implementing health care reform in Illinois, sponsoring and passing legislation that expanded health care coverage to 70,000 kids and 84,000 adults. I have listed his many legislative accomplishments previously, so I won't do it again.
His accomplishments do not take away from Senator Clinton's accomplishments. It is just that she wants people to believe he has none. That is simply not accurate.
The health care plans offered by Clinton and Obama are very similar. I do not like the mandate portion of Clinton's. She said on ABC News on February 3, that she would consider garnishing wages. I think that is simply wrong.
Now. whether either plan will pass congress...we all know that is another story.
I like Obama's plan of Forming a National Health Insurance Exchange that will act as a watchdog group and help reform the private insurance market by creating rules and standards for participating insurance plans to ensure fairness and to make individual coverage more affordable and accessible.
I admire many of the first ladies. My comments were not meant to take away from them.
The example of Ireland was to illustrate Senator Clinton's claims to greater influence than is factual. Of course it is an accomplishment of the Clinton Presidency...and Bill Clinton was the president.
I too am of Irish heritage. I'm a lifelong Democrat. I am a 46 year old woman. I belong to the Teamsters Union. I have worked hard to gain my education (B.A. in Political Science), my career, and my wonderful family.
I have considered my position carefully.
I appreciate your comments. I support Senator Obama.
This 46 year old "gal" and Teamster member casts a solid "no vote" for Hillary Clinton.
I've done my homework.
She has disappointed me greatly with her previous anti-union stand.
She claims experience that she does not have. Her husband's experience is not her own.
Wal-Mart was smaller than it is now, but it was still the biggest retailer in the United States at the time she sat on the board. They continue to have a terrible stand on labor. Yes, they do employ many, but they offer them little; mostly part-time hours with no benefits and they quash unions with every opportunity. They also run many small businesses right into the ground in local communities.
No one should be sneering at the employees of Wal-Mart. I would simply like to see them treated better by their employer. No question about their hard work and effort.
ABC News By BRIAN ROSS, MADDY SAUER and RHONDA SCHWARTZ Jan. 31, 2008
In six years as a member of the Wal-Mart board of directors, between 1986 and 1992, Hillary Clinton remained silent as the world's largest retailer waged a major campaign against labor unions seeking to represent store workers.
Clinton has been endorsed for president by more than a dozen unions, according to her campaign Web site, which omits any reference to her role at Wal-Mart in its detailed biography of her.
Wal-Mart's anti-union efforts were headed by one of Clinton's fellow board members, John Tate, a Wal-Mart executive vice president who also served on the board with Clinton for four of her six years.
Tate was fond of repeating, as he did at a managers meeting in 2004 after his retirement, what he said was his favorite phrase, "Labor unions are nothing but blood-sucking parasites living off the productive labor of people who work for a living."
Wal-Mart says Tate's comments "were his own and do not reflect Wal-Mart's views." But Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton and other company officials often recounted how they relied on Tate to lead the company's successful anti-union efforts.
An ABC News analysis of the videotapes of at least four stockholder meetings where Clinton appeared shows she never once rose to defend the role of American labor unions. The tapes, broadcast this morning on "Good Morning America," were provided to ABC News from the archives of Flagler Productions, a Lenexa, Kan., company hired by Wal-Mart to record its meetings and events.
A former board member told ABCNews.com that he had no recollection of Clinton defending unions during more than 20 board meetings held in private.
The tapes show Clinton in the role of a loyal company woman. "I'm always proud of Wal-Mart and what we do and the way we do it better than anybody else," she said at a June 1990 stockholders meeting.
Clinton would not agree to be interviewed on the subject but now says she no longer shares Wal-Mart's values and believes unions "have been essential to our nation's success."
The videotapes do show that Clinton used her role to push for more environmentally friendly policies and better treatment of women. "We've got a very strong-willed young woman on our board now; her name is Hillary," said Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton at a 1987 stockholders meeting in describing Clinton's role in pushing for more women to be hired in management positions.
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Barack Obama has my vote.