"If you get to the top of the mountain, will you tell me what you see?From Minneapolis in the upper midwest to New Orleans where the mighty Mississippi empties into the gulf, from Portland in the north west to Greenville, South Carolina, Hope is alive and well in America, and Obama's candidacy has tapped into it. Now Dave Stewart's chronicled our hope.
If you get to the top of the mountain, remember me."
Showing posts with label Campaign for Change. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Campaign for Change. Show all posts
Friday, August 22, 2008
Dave Stewart's American Prayer: You know they're yearning to breathe free
Give me your tired, your poor and huddled masses…
Sunday, August 03, 2008
Bush Legacy: a BAD TASTE in GOP's Mouth
Isn't it ironic that President Bush, once clearly a darling of conservatives and Republicans alike, may come to be, in the words of Ann McFeatters in the Boston Herald, "loathed by most of them."
The problem is that Bush isn't at all what people thought they were voting for. The "Compassionate Conservative" label was the epitome of sound-bite marketing, for openers. Show me any even moderately compassionate initiative Bush championed, and on review you'll find it was driven by pressure from outside, not his own leadership. And the notion you'd vote for him because you'd like to have a beer with him? Nevermind that he doesn't drink anymore: Who really thought they'd like to have a beer with him?
Answer: people who'd like to have a beer with anybody.
Sadly I see President Bush primarily as a puppet of the likes of Cheney & Rumsfeld, who realized Rove had hold of a guy that could be made electable at the national level. There is little on the record to suggest Bush has been a savvy leader with a vision for the betterment of this country.
No, instead the GOP had the drop on the dems in marketing, two cycles in a row. Effective smear attacks from surrogates while their guy appeared to remain above the fray. A dose of fear, a carefully acquired Texas drawl for an Ivy Leaguer from a privileged family... It was brilliant.
Unfortunately, it was brilliance applied to electing a self-interested cabal fronted by a puppet. Bush has presided over some of the most disastrous policies in modern U.S. history - the economy is hanging by a thread as we pour our precious lives and resources into an investment in big oil noguls becoming even richer. And how are the folks atop those companies faring, while the rest of the country deals with unemployment and recession? Oh, right: Their best quarter EVER.
Another irony, of course, is that Rumsfeld has been consigned to the back room somewhere, while Cheney continues as arguably the most powerful Vice President the US has ever seen. Some say the only reason the various calls for impeachment of George W. Bush are not pursued more stridently in congress is the realization that it would lead, at least briefly, to Cheney ascending to sole control of the Oval Office.
The alternative is to continue our slide from prominence toward a second class status on the stage of world affairs. That's not the legacy I want to leave for my offspring - what about you?
read more | digg story
The problem is that Bush isn't at all what people thought they were voting for. The "Compassionate Conservative" label was the epitome of sound-bite marketing, for openers. Show me any even moderately compassionate initiative Bush championed, and on review you'll find it was driven by pressure from outside, not his own leadership. And the notion you'd vote for him because you'd like to have a beer with him? Nevermind that he doesn't drink anymore: Who really thought they'd like to have a beer with him?
Answer: people who'd like to have a beer with anybody.
Republicans = small government?
When you look at his term of office it seems likely that he was, in essence, a figurehead.
Sadly I see President Bush primarily as a puppet of the likes of Cheney & Rumsfeld, who realized Rove had hold of a guy that could be made electable at the national level. There is little on the record to suggest Bush has been a savvy leader with a vision for the betterment of this country.No, instead the GOP had the drop on the dems in marketing, two cycles in a row. Effective smear attacks from surrogates while their guy appeared to remain above the fray. A dose of fear, a carefully acquired Texas drawl for an Ivy Leaguer from a privileged family... It was brilliant.
Unfortunately, it was brilliance applied to electing a self-interested cabal fronted by a puppet. Bush has presided over some of the most disastrous policies in modern U.S. history - the economy is hanging by a thread as we pour our precious lives and resources into an investment in big oil noguls becoming even richer. And how are the folks atop those companies faring, while the rest of the country deals with unemployment and recession? Oh, right: Their best quarter EVER.
Another irony, of course, is that Rumsfeld has been consigned to the back room somewhere, while Cheney continues as arguably the most powerful Vice President the US has ever seen. Some say the only reason the various calls for impeachment of George W. Bush are not pursued more stridently in congress is the realization that it would lead, at least briefly, to Cheney ascending to sole control of the Oval Office.
Follow the money:
One has to hope that the sense and sensibility of the citizens - and voters - of the USA will help turn the U.S. back from the old-school politics to embrace respect for both the average people as well as the political opposition. There are signs such candor and civility is valued over the increasingly transparent, self-serving "mis-speaking" that has become all too commonplace. We must hold elected officials to a higher standard. It is short-sighted and shallow to tolerate duplicitous, politically expedient apologies after the fact as "expected behavior" though the mainstream media continues to look the other way. We must ask who profits from each decision, be it invading then rebuilding Iraq or stockpiling Tamiflu at taxpayers expense.The alternative is to continue our slide from prominence toward a second class status on the stage of world affairs. That's not the legacy I want to leave for my offspring - what about you?
read more | digg story
Friday, July 11, 2008
Faith, Hope, and the Courtship of South Carolina
South Carolina hasn't voted for a Democrat for president since Jimmy Carter. According to Linda Hansen, the voters in the "Palmetto State" have been no use to "liberal" candidates after primary season:"Truth to tell, we South Carolinians have been jilted before we got to the altar so many times we don't bother with trousseau shoppin' any more. We've lost faith. Abandoned hope. The Dems gave up on us long ago and the GOP knows we can be had, cheap."
Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall...The times?
They are a-changing: In the summer of 2007 Senator Barack Obama promised the people of South Carolina he'd work for them if they'd have him. Obama's keeping his promise, which reflects his fifty state strategy.
Ms. Hansen compares the state of the McCain & Obama campaigns, and while the polls suggest that McCain has the traditional lead, the mood on the ground is - evidently - not indicative of a Republican lock on the electoral votes come November.
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