The Nation: Obama For President
This column was written by the editors of The Nation
As this year's front-loaded primary calendar took shape, capped off with the February 5 Super-Mega-Duper Tuesday, many voters once again resigned themselves to watching from the sidelines as a few early states got the privilege of choosing the party's nominee. Yet despite a schedule tailor-made to benefit the establishment candidate and confer an early victory, we are, somewhat miraculously, in the midst of the most contested primary race in 24 years. We are all Iowans now.
This state of affairs is thanks almost entirely to the campaign of Barack Obama, who, because of his background and his relatively brief time in the national spotlight, is a truly improbable contender for the presidency. This magazine has been critical of the senator from Illinois for his closeness to Wall Street; his unwillingness to lay out an ambitious progressive agenda on health care, housing and other domestic policy issues; and for post partisan rhetoric that seems to ignore the manifest failure of conservatism over these past seven years. But as Christopher Hayes argued in our cover story last week, Obama has also exhibited a more humane and wise approach to foreign policy, opposing the Iraq War while Hillary Clinton voted for it, and has been a reliable progressive ally over the course of his career. While his rhetoric about "unity" can be troubling, it also embodies a savvy strategy to redefine the center of American politics and build a coalition by reaching out to independent and Republican voters disgruntled and disgusted with what the Bush era has wrought. Most important, we feel his candidacy, in its demonstrated investment in organizing and grassroots activism as well as his personal appeal, represents the best chance to forge a new progressive majority. For these reasons we support Obama for President.
Obama's brand of grassroots politics should serve him well in the coming weeks. He has already galvanized a new class of supporters, delivered on the promise of turning out new voters and raised an astonishing amount of money from hundreds of thousands of small donors. In the February contests in caucus states, he can leverage his superior organizing, and in liberal primary states like Maryland and Wisconsin, he can leverage his progressive support in the wake of John Edwards's exit. But the Obama coalition is relatively weak among Latino voters, as well as among the core Democratic constituencies of the elderly and the working class, who are most focused on bread-and-butter basics: making the economy work for the non-rich. As a moral and political imperative, he would do well to seize the mantle of equitable redistribution and broad economic security for those who live their lives on the precipice of bankruptcy and disaster.
While some will fret about the effect on the eventual nominee of a prolonged battle, the upwelling of small-d democratic enthusiasm in this primary — all those impassioned e-mails, phone calls, canvassing sessions and Facebook postings — has reaped real results: record turnout in the first four contests and on Super Tuesday. While the GOP appears to be on the verge of nominating old war (mongering) horse John McCain, Democrats will likely remain divided, and that's quite all right. Primaries are more than just the means of choosing a nominee; they are an opportunity to weave together networks capable of pushing the country, inch by inch, in a new direction. There's nothing quite like the novel experience of casting a meaningful vote to stoke the aspirations and energies of citizens of conscience. As we move toward November, we'll need all the energy we can get.
By the editors of The Naton
Reprinted with permission from The Nation
The Nation As this year's front-loaded primary calendar took shape, capped off with the February 5 Super-Mega-Duper Tuesday, many voters once again resigned themselves to watching from the sidelines as a few early states got the privilege of choosing the party's nominee. Yet despite a schedule tailor-made to benefit the establishment candidate and confer an early victory, we are, somewhat miraculously, in the midst of the most contested primary race in 24 years. We are all Iowans now.
This state of affairs is thanks almost entirely to the campaign of Barack Obama, who, because of his background and his relatively brief time in the national spotlight, is a truly improbable contender for the presidency. This magazine has been critical of the senator from Illinois for his closeness to Wall Street; his unwillingness to lay out an ambitious progressive agenda on health care, housing and other domestic policy issues; and for post partisan rhetoric that seems to ignore the manifest failure of conservatism over these past seven years. But as Christopher Hayes argued in our cover story last week, Obama has also exhibited a more humane and wise approach to foreign policy, opposing the Iraq War while Hillary Clinton voted for it, and has been a reliable progressive ally over the course of his career. While his rhetoric about "unity" can be troubling, it also embodies a savvy strategy to redefine the center of American politics and build a coalition by reaching out to independent and Republican voters disgruntled and disgusted with what the Bush era has wrought. Most important, we feel his candidacy, in its demonstrated investment in organizing and grassroots activism as well as his personal appeal, represents the best chance to forge a new progressive majority. For these reasons we support Obama for President.
Obama's brand of grassroots politics should serve him well in the coming weeks. He has already galvanized a new class of supporters, delivered on the promise of turning out new voters and raised an astonishing amount of money from hundreds of thousands of small donors. In the February contests in caucus states, he can leverage his superior organizing, and in liberal primary states like Maryland and Wisconsin, he can leverage his progressive support in the wake of John Edwards's exit. But the Obama coalition is relatively weak among Latino voters, as well as among the core Democratic constituencies of the elderly and the working class, who are most focused on bread-and-butter basics: making the economy work for the non-rich. As a moral and political imperative, he would do well to seize the mantle of equitable redistribution and broad economic security for those who live their lives on the precipice of bankruptcy and disaster.
While some will fret about the effect on the eventual nominee of a prolonged battle, the upwelling of small-d democratic enthusiasm in this primary — all those impassioned e-mails, phone calls, canvassing sessions and Facebook postings — has reaped real results: record turnout in the first four contests and on Super Tuesday. While the GOP appears to be on the verge of nominating old war (mongering) horse John McCain, Democrats will likely remain divided, and that's quite all right. Primaries are more than just the means of choosing a nominee; they are an opportunity to weave together networks capable of pushing the country, inch by inch, in a new direction. There's nothing quite like the novel experience of casting a meaningful vote to stoke the aspirations and energies of citizens of conscience. As we move toward November, we'll need all the energy we can get.
By the editors of The Naton
Reprinted with permission from The Nation
America wants TRUTH -
WISDOM, COMPASSION, AND COURAGE
America wants OBAMA
So be it that our YOUTH sees HOPE in TRUTH...
"LIVE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE IN THE WORLD."
"Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed."
"A nation''s culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people."
GO! OBAMA, TRUTH IS THE NATION, THE WORLD, THE HOPE!
FACT: Obama and Clinton both run circles around McCain when it comes to supporting Veterans. On 18 issues favored by the DAV McCain voted with the DAV only 28% of the time, Obama (for the 15 since he became a Senator) 92% and Clinton 93%.
IAVA graded McCain a D, Obama a B+ and Clinton an A-
McCain voted with the Vietnam Veterans of America on 37% of issues, Obama 92% and Clinton 88%
Dav Links
McCain : http://capwiz.com/dav/bio/keyvotes/?id=192
Obama : http://capwiz.com/dav/bio/keyvotes/?id=3181
Clinton : http://capwiz.com/dav/bio/keyvotes/?id=10902
Vietnam Veterans of America Links
McCain : http://capwiz.com/vva/bio/keyvotes/?id=192
Obama : http://capwiz.com/vva/bio/keyvotes/?id=3181
Clinton : http://capwiz.com/vva/bio/keyvotes/?id=10902
IAVA: http://www.iava.org/full-ratings-list
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,256078,00.html
.htm
sorry this is the web site, frightning
Posted by croft777 at 06:13 PM : Feb 11, 2008
-croft777, look who is behind freedomennemies.com
it''s no one else but the sided Arthur Sulzberger Jr. One of the Establishment pillars, now with The New York Times fright-spreading Machine, that lead to the Invasion of Iraq...
He famously declared that in a confrontation between an American and a North Vietnamese soldier he''d want to see the American get shot.
http://www.freedomsenemies.com/_more/pinchsulzberger.htm
-On every corner, we see those freedom ''enemies'' sites popping up. It''s all part of the propaganda machine. I''m not pretending terror does not exist. It does, but it''s over exposed, exagerated, amplified on purpose, in order to keep us under siege of the Establishment and subdued to their fake and VERY COSTLY ''protection''. Over-exposition of this is just one element of the plot to justify the bleeding that takes place in the American Economy. The Iraqi invasion, the 5 more resources invested in boosting security, for so little security increase... Com on wake up... We need not this bleeding to protect us.
sorry this is the web site, frightning
Obama rocks! Hillary rocks! McCain rocks!
I don''t really care who wins in 2008, so long as "Forest Gump" gets out of the White House in 2009. Yes Mama, stupid is as the Bush administration does.
They don''t see him as an apostate but a crusader for Islam.
Written in 2007
"A good example of how some of the Indonesian media is reporting on Obama''s religion can be found in the following."
"Ayah kandung Obama disebut-sebut seorang Muslim, dan Barack Obama juga disebutkan pernah memeluk Islam. Setalah tinggal di AS dan diasuh neneknya, Obama mengaku telah memeluk Kristen. Masalah agama apa yang sekarang dianut Obama, itu adalah prinsip dirinya yang harus dihormati siapapun. Dan hanya Obama sendiri yang tahu dan akan mempertanggungjawabkan di hadapan Tuhan yang diyakininya."
"begin my translation..."
"Obama''s father was mentioned to be a Muslim and Barack Obama had embraced Islam. After living in the USA and being taken care of by his grandmother, Obama claimed to embrace Christianity. The problem with religion and what is now followed by Obama is a principal he himself must honor. And only Obama personally will account before God for his beliefs."
"What I found interesting in the article was the use of the word ''mengaku'' when refering to Obama''s conversion from Islam to Christianity. The word ''mengaku'' in Indonesian means "claimed" and as such leaves the insinuation to the native Indonesian reader being that Obama might actually still be a Muslim. But this is how Indonesians see Obama, they don''t see him as an apostate at all, they see him as a crusader for the cause of Islam."
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Posted by eyemdope
I agree!!! If it comes downs to Hillary or McCain, I am voting for McCain despite being a life long democrat....