A quick question for MN Senator Norm Coleman

Norm, my friend, if you don't answer this before election day it's going to look like you're worried the answer would ruin any hope you have of re-election. Don't you want to get this out of the way before your debate Sunday night?

One quick answer, Senator? How do you respond to allegations that Nasser Kazeminy funneled a lot of cash to your wife? Do you realize that pretending you can't hear the question makes people think you know there's a real basis to the lawsuit?

OK, you're right; there was more than one question there.

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109-Year-Old Daughter of a Slave Casts Vote for Obama

Amanda Jones, 109, the daughter of a man born into slavery, has lived a life long enough to touch three centuries. And after voting consistently as a Democrat for 70 years, she has voted early for the country's first black presidential nominee.

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No On 8 v. Yes On 8 Oakland Culture War Update Video

This is an update of my first video on a clash between supporters of state Prop 8 and those opposing it. I went back to the same MacArthur and Lakeshore corner featured in the first video.  

Barack Obama : American Stories, American Solutions

This is the "informercial" which I watch and had to say I was moved by it.  It was less about Barack Obama than it was about different people in America and their common stories.  It wasn't what I expected; much better.  But I was looking for Barney Smith.  Remember him?  He was the man who, at the Democratic National Convention, said "They've got a plan to help Smith Barney, but what about Barney Smith?" 

As president, What Would Obama Do?

Most voters distrust political advertising and avoid official campaign web sites. Most news reports describe controversies, poll results, and fund raising – they’re more interested in ratings and advertising revenues than in what they “report” on. Many of the most popular programs and sources display an obvious bias, including this one (no offense, Zennie, I think they know we're early voters for Obama.) Where is the information?

Most voters distrust political advertising and avoid official campaign web sites. Worse, most news reports describe controversies, poll results, and fund raising – they're more interested in ratings and advertising revenues than in what they "report" on. Many of the most popular programs and sources display an obvious bias (as does this site.)

In these difficult times any new president requires the support and trust of the electorate, including particularly those who voted for the other party. The changes we need on everything from the burden of taxes to education of health care reform will require making many people more aware of what he would do if and when elected.

I often point you to information on the candidate's web sites if what you find here isn't answering your questions, though obviously the level of detail and transparency is different comparing Obama and McCain's officially published information (presumably because that's controlled by their campaign advisors who are fanatical about persuasion.) Searches will turn up some of the less-official answers to questions about deregulation, etc., inspiring anecdotes of personal dedication, and it's fairly easy to find actual voting information online, but AskObamaNow.com has lots of the answers collected in one place about the most likely man to be our next President.

AskObamaNow.com answers the question, "What would Obama do if elected?" It’s a voter-friendly web site featuring short videos of Barack Obama simply giving direct answers to common questions. I'm still looking for an AskMcCainNow site to appear. Thus far I can only find his record; no luck on what he'd do.

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Barack Obama Endorsed For President By Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton actually gave one of his fire-and-brimstone speeches like the one he gave for Hillary Clinton at the California State Democratic Convention.  This means he feels it, and he's serious when he says he's behind Barack.

SF Proposition H Gets Assm Mark Leno's Support - "Yes on H"

Assemblyman Mark Leno lays out the case for supporting both state Proposition 8 and San Francisco Proposition H, the SF clean energy initiative on the ballot.  Leno, a former SF supervisor explains refutes many of the fears that PG&E will be "taken over." 

Barack Obama Retrospective - My First Obama Speech, With Barbara Boxer

As we move closer to election day, it's worth a basic reminder of why we got involved in the movement to elect Barack Obama President.  


Also, it's crunch time!  Time to make the calls, walk the beat, write blogs, and talk to people who need to be convinced!  And if that's not enough and they say "He can't talk without a teleprompter" then show them this video, which is still the best single speech I've heard Obama give because he just walked up and plain knocked it out of the park -- with no notes.  


None.  


In the video we also get the full taste of why people are behind Senator Obama, including myself.  


Here's the video:





This is what I wrote then, and it stands the test of time:

You know you've reached star status when -- even though you're a US senator -- they just call you by your name and not your title. Such is true for US Senator and Candidate for President of The United States, Barack Obama.

They just call him Barack Obama.

Senator Barack Obama (D) Illinois, appeared as the star of a rousing February 19th fund-raiser hosted by Senator Barbara Boxer at The Westin St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco's Union Square.

The event drew almost 2,000 people, if not a little more than that number. (And reports with the estimate at 1,000 are just plain wrong. I was there, and I can count.)

What was surprising to me was the number of true voters who turned out. The crowd was most older, white, and liberal, and for the trained eye consisted of some of the Bay Area's most active political citizens. But to be sure, there was a healthy percentage of younger voters as well -- between 20 and 45 years old. And remember all paid between $150 and $2,000, so this wasn't a free event. It sold out the week before it was set to commence.

Personally, I was blown away by Barack Obama. And I've worked for four politicians and donated to several campaigns. Part of Senator Obama's appeal is that he really has his pulse on the problem America faces and that's a belief crisis. Our leaders don't represent us anymore; they stand for their own desires. One doesn't get the impression that Senator Obama has an agenda separate from that of the American People. He knows we're suffering from seeing people killed overseas and going without help in a hurricane-wrecked New Orleans. He knows we're tired of seeing our leaders preside over a vastly imbalanced spread of resources going where they don't help Americans (the Mid East) while people in the South (Louisiana) are still suffering. He gets that we have a massive leadership crisis, yet doesn't step in like Superman, he just has the courage to point his hand in another direction and say "This is where we should go."

I know that's heavy, but it doesn't begin to describe how much people are energized by him and his run for president. It's one thing to hear about it, but you've got to be a part of it to understand. 

An Evangelical Christian Argument for Obama

Evangelicals have taken a beating this election cycle, but not all of us support McCain/Palin and refusing to support the GOP does not mean evangelicals are abandoning their principles. Here are some excerpts from my stinging critique of the GOP and my argument for why Christians can support Obama:

I am an evangelical Christian with a record of voting in line with the Republican Party. This year, however, I am casting my vote for Barack Obama. My support for Obama stands on its own, and has been well documented throughout this blog. But why would an evangelical Christian vote for a Democrat? The answer is as much a reflection of what Obama stands for as it is what the GOP does not.

Last week I received an email from Dr. James Dobson – whose internet ministry I subscribe to – imploring me to “vote my values,” meaning to vote for the candidate whose “pro-life” and pro traditional marriage rhetoric carried Dr. Dobson’s stamp of approval. My immediate thought was: Why should I vote two of my values to the exclusion of all others? In that question lies the problem of the Christian allegiance to the Republican Party...

GOP leadership has (perhaps with the willing participation of some Christian leaders) twisted and distilled our values to the point where we are just hot-button sound bites wrapped up in a platform designed to benefit the wealthy and corporate classes. In the process, they have turned uninformed Christians (me among them) into “single-issue voters,” sheepishly towing the Party line while it exploits the name of God and bastardizes our ideals to foment hatred, division and racism and to engender animosity toward Christians by associating us with a platform that is anathema to God’s love.

The full article is here.

Rob J.

If you had survived The Great Depression, which campaign would you volunteer for?

You tell me.

I'm with Charles.

more about "If you had survived The Great Depression...", posted with vodpod

Sarah Palin will become an Independent

 

Sarah Palin will become an Independent, breaking ranks with the GOP within two or three years.  The reason is that Palin has been treated terribly within the Republican Party of late and this, combined with the fact that she's still learning about World politics, will change her world view.  Palin will become more of a centrist and realize that she can have better success away from the GOP.  

McCain wants my vote

...and in Hershey, PA, he said the reason is that his opponents "have faith in government." HUH? Is he kidding? Should we elect a president who thinks government is bad? Look, McCain, taxes and government are here to stay. There's work to be done, there are obviously things to fix, but if you don't trust government what motivates your candidacy?

The fact is, taxes and government are here to stay. Much of our political process urgently needs reform, but Senator McCain evidently can’t articulate any positive value government can provide to the voters and citizens of the USA.

Senator, you’ve got it bass-ackwards.

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

I’m voting for Obama for a variety of reasons. But, even if I didn’t see important differences between the two on deregulation, foreign policy, taxes, foresight with regard to the economy, health care reform, etc., I’d still be picking the guy who has faith that the organization he wants to lead can effectively matter to those it governs.

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