Open Thread

Hillary Clinton campaigns for Barack in Nevada, August 8th, 2008

Polls open in 86 days .  . .

Add to del.icio.us

Digg this

Post to Furl

Add to reddit

Add to myYahoo!

Barack's VP: Be the First to Know

Campaign Manager David Plouffe just sent out the following email:

Barack Obama is about to make one of the most important decisions of this campaign -- choosing a running mate.

You have helped build this movement from the bottom up, and Barack wants you to be the first to know his choice.

Sign up today to be the first to know.

You will receive an email the moment Barack makes his decision, or you can text VP to 62262 to receive a text message on your mobile phone.

Once you've signed up, please forward this email to your friends, family, and coworkers to let them know about this special opportunity.

No other campaign has done this before. You can be part of this important moment.

Be the first to know who Barack selects as his running mate.

Thanks,

David

David Plouffe
Campaign Manager
Obama for America

 

Add to del.icio.us

Digg this

Post to Furl

Add to reddit

Add to myYahoo!

Colorado: Solutions for America

From Jenn Prosser, on the ground in Colorado . . .

From his days as a community organizer on, Barack has strongly believed that the best policies come from the people -- their experiences, stories and ideas can shape the most efficient solutions for our country.

In the spirit of this philosophy, the Colorado Campaign for Change has organized a series of Solutions for Colorado forums that will be going on across the state from now through October.

The first event was in Pueblo, where Rep. John Salazar joined National Deputy Policy Director Carlos Monje and Colorado Policy Director Joy Silvern to talk about the economy.

The room was packed with nearly 200 people from Pueblo and the surrounding area. Rep. Salazar spoke to the group about the economic problems he's seen in the past eight years, from the huge rise in diesel costs to the sky-rocketing national debt.

One of the people at the event, Elaine, shared her story with the audience. Elaine was a property manager for a low-income housing development. She talked about how her work had helped empower one of her tenants, whom Elaine hired to help maintain the houses. The woman became progressively more involved in the housing development, and then took over when Elaine retired. The woman now works to help other people who are in situations like hers. Elaine said:

I hope that everyone here will carefully think about [their vote] when they go to the polls; think about the loss of these programs for people and what will happen if we have another four years of what we have had so far.

Later that afternoon, Joy and Carlos drove to Windsor where they, with Speaker of the House Andrew Romanoff, met with over 120 people to discuss energy concerns in Colorado.

At both events, the Coloradans split into groups where they discussed their ideas to help solve the issues at hand. Campaign staff listened to their conversations and collected the ideas to be passed on to Barack's policy team in Chicago.

Here's a video of both events:

If you live in Colorado, you visit Solutions for Colorado for more information on upcoming meeting.

Add to del.icio.us

Digg this

Post to Furl

Add to reddit

Add to myYahoo!

Media Turns Substance into Anti-Obama Mush

Photo: Anti-Obama T-Shirt

Why Obama
Could be
in Trouble

By Robert Parry
Consortium News

August 7, 2008- It might seem unlikely that the United States would elect John McCain to succeed George W. Bush when that would ensure continuation of many unpopular Bush policies: an ill-defined war with the Muslim world, right-wing consolidation of the U.S. Supreme Court, a drill-oriented energy strategy, tax cuts creating massive federal deficits, etc., etc.

But there are reasons -- beyond understandable concerns about Barack Obama's limited experience -- that make a McCain victory possible, indeed maybe probable.

Here is one of the big ones: The U.S. news media is as bad as ever, arguably worse.


On Monday, Obama gave a detail-rich speech on how he would address the energy crisis, which is a major point of concern among Americans. From ideas for energy innovation to retrofitting the U.S. auto industry to conservation steps to limited new offshore drilling, Obama did what he is often accused of not doing, fleshing out his soaring rhetoric.

McCain responded with a harsh critique of Obama's calls for more conservation, claiming that Obama wants to solve the energy crisis by having people inflate their tires. McCain's campaign even passed out a tire gauge marked as Obama's energy plan.

For his part, McCain made clear he wanted to drill for more oil wherever it could be found and to build many more nuclear power plants.

These competing plans offered a chance for the evening news to address an issue of substance that is high on the voters' agenda. Instead, NBC News anchor Brian Williams devoted 30 seconds to the dueling energy speeches, without any details and with the witty opening line that Obama was "refining" his energy plan.

So, instead of dealing with a serious issue in a serious way, NBC News ignored the substance and went for a clever slight against Obama, hitting his political maneuvering in his softened opposition to more offshore drilling.

Williams's quip fit with one of the press corps' favorite campaign narratives, Obama's flip-flopping. But the coverage ignored far more important elements of the story, such as the feasibility of Obama's vow that "we must end the age of oil in our time" or the wisdom of McCain's emphasis on drilling -- and nuking -- the nation out of its energy mess.

And, as for flip-flops, McCain's dramatic repositioning of himself as an anti-environmentalist -- after years of being one of the green movement's favorite Republicans -- represents a far more significant change than Obama's modest waffling on offshore oil.

The Sierra Club, one of the nation's premier environmental organizations, has repudiated McCain and now is running ads attacking his energy plan. But McCain's flip-flops -- even complete reversals -- remain an underplayed part of the campaign story. They just don't fit the narrative of maverick John McCain on the "Straight Talk Express."

Loving the 'Surge'

The major U.S. news media has been equally superficial in dealing with the Iraq War and the "war on terror." It is now a fully enshrined conventional wisdom that George W. Bush's troop "surge" was a huge success and vindicates McCain's early support for it. On Obama's overseas trip, it became de rigueur for each interviewer to pound him for the first 10 or 15 minutes with demands that he accept the accepted wisdom about the "surge" and admit that he was wrong and McCain was right.

Obama's attempts to offer a more subtle explanation of what had occurred in Iraq -- that key reasons for the declining violence actually predated the "surge" -- were treated with bafflement by the interviewers, who simply reframed their questions and came back at him in a show of toughness against Obama's supposed evasions.

CBS News anchor Katie Couric started this pattern, but others fell smartly in line, including NBC's Tom Brokaw on "Meet the Press." Indeed, many of the same media stars who had cheered the nation to war in 2003 (such as Brokaw) were now hectoring Obama, who had spoken out against the invasion in real time.

Conversely, McCain is never challenged about his misjudgment in advocating a rapid pivot from Afghanistan to Iraq in late 2001 and early 2002, before Osama bin Laden and other top al-Qaeda were captured and before Afghanistan had stabilized.

That premature pivot now stands as one of the biggest military blunders in U.S. history, leaving American troops bogged down in two open-ended wars and allowing the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks to regroup and to plot in safe havens inside Pakistan.

However, American voters who rely on the major news media for their information would have no idea about McCain's central role in this fiasco. All they hear about is how McCain was right about the "surge" and how Obama won't admit he was wrong.

Britney/Paris

When American news consumers aren't hearing misinformation, they're almost surely hearing trivia. The TV news shows couldn't resist endlessly repeating McCain's attack ad that compared Obama and his enthusiastic reception in Berlin to misbehaving celebrities Britney Spears and Paris Hilton.

Though the juxtaposition was clearly meant to demean -- and reminded some political observers of the "call me" ads of a sexy white woman whispering to black Tennessee Senate candidate Harold Ford -- McCain's campaign insisted it was all in good fun.

While some pundits did take note of McCain's detour onto the low road, others picked up McCain's campaign theme that Obama is a "presumptuous" elitist who looks down on others.

That powerful attack line, which touches on the grievances of working-class whites who feel that some blacks have gotten unfair advantages from affirmative action, is at the heart of modern American racism. Since the Nixon era, Republicans have played this Southern Strategy with great success, telling whites that they're the real victims.

This Obama-elitist theme reached its apex (or nadir, if you prefer) when the Washington Post's Dana Milbank distorted a reported quote from Obama to a closed Democratic caucus and used it to prove Obama was a "presumptuous nominee." [Washington Post, July 30, 2008]

Jonathan Capehart, Milbank's colleague from the Washington Post's neoconservative editorial page, then took the point a step further on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" show, citing Milbank's misleading quote to establish that Obama is an "uppity" black man. Yet, the true meaning of the Obama quote appears to have been almost the opposite of how Milbank used it.

Painting Obama as a megalomaniac, Milbank wrote: "Inside [the caucus], according to a witness, [Obama] told the House members, 'This is the moment ... that the world is waiting for,' adding: 'I have become a symbol of the possibility of America returning to our best traditions.'"

However, other people who attended the caucus complained that Milbank had yanked the words out of context to support his "presumptuous" thesis, not to reflect what Obama actually said.

Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-South Carolina, said Obama's comment was "in response to what one of the [House] members prefaced the question by," a reference to the crowd of 200,000 that turned out to hear Obama speak in Berlin.

According to Clyburn, Obama "said, 'I wish I could take credit for that, but I can't. Because it's not about me. It's about America. It's about the people of Germany and the people of Europe looking for a new hope, new relationships, as we go forward in the world.' So, he expressly said that it's not about me."

A House Democratic aide sent an e-mail to Fox News saying, "Lots of people are reading the quote about Obama being a symbol and getting it wrong. His entire point of that riff was that the campaign IS NOT about him.

"The Post left out the important first half of the sentence, which was something along the lines of: 'It has become increasingly clear in my travel, the campaign, that the crowds, the enthusiasm, 200,000 people in Berlin, is not about me at all. It's about America. I have just become a symbol ...'"

So, it appears that Obama's attempt to show humility was transformed into its opposite, establishing that, as Capehart put it, Obama is an "uppity" black man. [Capehart himself is black.]

A week after Milbank pulled the Obama quote inside out, the Washington Post had yet to run a correction or a clarification. The august Post apparently judges that Obama's supporters don't have the clout to punish a news organization for getting a quote wrong, even if it continues to reverberate through the media echo chamber to millions of Americans.

Putting Obama at Risk

Yet possibly even more offensive than the quote, Milbank's column shoved everything, including the Secret Service security arrangements for Obama, through the lens of proving that the candidate is arrogant.

When Washington police and the Secret Service blocked off roads for Obama's motorcade, that was not simply prudence in the face of extraordinary security concerns for Obama's life; it was proof that Obama already sees himself as a head of state.

"He traveled in a bubble more insulating than the actual President's. Traffic was shut down for him as he zoomed about town in a long, presidential-style motorcade, while the public and most of the press were kept in the dark about his activities."

Milbank groused, too, about the tight security that the police put around Obama's movements on Capitol Hill.

"Capitol Police cleared the halls -- just as they do for the actual President. The Secret Service hustled him in through a side door -- just as they do for the actual President," Milbank wrote.

While Milbank portrayed these security steps as further evidence of Obama's hubris, there is no reason to believe that Obama had any say in the decisions of his security detail to protect the candidate.

Milbank and the Post were behaving as if they were oblivious to the physical danger that surrounds the first African-American to have a serious chance to be elected President of the United States. It was almost as if they were baiting him to order the Secret Service to pull back or face the accusation that he is, as Capehart put it, "uppity."

This pattern of how the major media treats Obama also is not new. Although the McCain campaign and the right-wing media insist that Obama gets easy treatment from the press corps, that amounts to more "working the refs" than a legitimate complaint.

Just because Obama gets more coverage than McCain -- the centerpiece of the Republican complaint -- doesn't mean that the press favors Obama, anymore than the fact that Bill Clinton got lots of coverage in 1998 over the Monica Lewinsky scandal meant that the press was favoring him.

Indeed, there have been repeated examples of media double standards working against Obama.

For instance, during the primaries, the major media obsessed for weeks over controversies that would have blown over for other candidates in days. The stupid remarks by Obama's pastor, Jeremiah Wright, were endless fodder for news programs, while offensive comments from pro-McCain pastors were just tiny blips and soon disappeared.

Similarly, Obama's lack of a flag-lapel pin became a theme that was used to challenge his patriotism, although neither John McCain nor Hillary Clinton wore a pin. Neither, by the way, did ABC's George Stephanopoulos and Charles Gibson as they moderated the April 16 debate in Philadelphia where Obama was grilled over his lack of a flag-lapel pin.

(The flag-lapel "issue" was first given national prominence by New York Times columnist William Kristol and was given more impetus by Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer. To put the issue to rest, Obama finally began wearing a flag pin, though McCain still doesn't wear one regularly.)

Economic Determinism

Every presidential election year, it seems, some economist publishes an article that declares that economic data -- good or bad -- will decide whether the White House will be won by the in-power party or the out-of-power party. For instance, the booming economy of 2000 supposedly assured Al Gore a resounding victory.

In Campaign 2008, this thinking holds that Americans -- faced with severe economic troubles -- will throw the Republicans out of the White House and elect a Democrat.

However, this economic determinism may no longer hold sway in a nation that is as inundated with media as the United States is. The ability to float false "themes" against one candidate or another and have the major media constantly repeat the propaganda is an extraordinarily powerful force in deciding American elections.

As we describe in our book Neck Deep, millions of Americans went to the polls in November 2000 believing a number of false claims that had been circulated about Vice President Gore (including the bogus notion that he had been part of a plan to sell nuclear secrets to China, when those secrets actually had been compromised during the Reagan years.)

Given the persistent superficiality -- and cowardice -- of the major U.S. news media, there's even the larger question of whether a meaningful democracy can survive when the public is so thoroughly misinformed.

Although there are some Internet sites that challenge the major media's errors, the imbalance remains tilted heavily toward the ideological Right. Especially when prestige newspapers like the Washington Post contribute to the distribution of false or misleading information -- as with Milbank's quote about Obama -- the pro-Republican media eagerly amplifies it and most Americans never hear the other side.

Right-wing Internet sites also have proven to be very adept at inserting completely false claims about Obama that stick with many Americans, such as the oft-repeated lie that Obama is a Muslim or that he trained at a radical Islamic madrassah.

To assume that people will somehow see through such distortions has proven to be naïve in the past. More likely, many millions of Americans will head to the polls in November having internalized a hodgepodge of negative themes about Obama. Indeed, a significant number who have absorbed the uglier accusations will have come to hate him.

So, even if a McCain victory guarantees that the United States would solidify the policies of a deeply disliked President, many Americans may set aside what may be good for the country -- or even good for their own pocketbooks -- and vote against Obama, more based on perceptions than reality.

Robert Parry's new book is Secrecy & Privilege: Rise of the Bush Dynasty from Watergate to Iraq."

© 2008 Consortium News All rights reserved.
View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/94030/


http://progressivesforobama.blogspot.com

Read The Full Article:
http://progressivesforobama.blogspot.com/2008/08/media-turns-substance-into-anti-
obama.html

Add to del.icio.us

Digg this

Post to Furl

Add to reddit

Add to myYahoo!

Obama's Olympic Ad: 'Hands'

Here is the video of the ad the Obama campaign is playing fduring the Olympics. It's refreshing to see how positive his campaign has remained, even in the face of the lying, hackneyed dreck that McCain keeps putting out:

Add to del.icio.us

Digg this

Post to Furl

Add to reddit

Add to myYahoo!

Voices for Change: Linda from Chesterland, OH

Whenever Linda finds an interesting article in the newspaper about Barack, she immediately cuts it out to send to her son Luke, who is in college. If she sees it online, she e-mails it to him. As a Chesterland, OH native (a suburb east of Cleveland) she recently sent her son, a basketball enthusiast, an article about LeBron James’ official endorsement of Barack and another great piece from the Cleveland Plain-Dealer about Michelle Obama. She sends more unusual Barack articles to close friends.

Linda, a psychotherapist in private practice, is a registered independent. “I don’t like to be tied in to a particular party and have never been actively involved in politics,” she says. “I always vote and usually stay informed, but I’ve never kept up with an election like I’ve followed this one.”

From the very beginning I was drawn most to Obama very clearly. I like his message and his sense of the larger picture. Beyond his oratory skills, he has the ability to listen. He obviously has a lot of charisma, but is also grounded. Sometimes people get carried away with themselves. He sees the larger vision, but is also inclusionary with people and personal. He speaks the truth of experience which makes him accessible. And he’s a bridge builder. With all of the bridges that got burned these last years, especially on the world scene, he wants to understand the different positions of people and heal the vision of the U.S. in the world.

Linda is inspired by Barack’s unconventional background and his by-the-bootstraps rise from modest beginnings.

I love his background and the world he grew up in. Instead of having everything laid out for him, he worked his way up on his own. It’s a departure from the old politics we’ve come to know. He’s a fresh, new face and has fresh ideas. Also, the fact that he is a black man gets me excited because we are so close to having a black person in the highest office in the country.

Linda is optimistic about having a president who is able to change political discourse and bring a range of voices into the process. The way Barack has approached this campaign and handled the issues that have come up has amazed her.

I’ve gone on the internet to listen to most of the speeches. I don’t like getting sound bites from the media, so I like to listen to the whole thing. I particularly liked the race speech he gave in Philadelphia. When he speaks to address a controversy, at the same time he holds true to himself and sees both perspectives. When I hear him I get a sense of hope I’ve never gotten before in politics.

This sense of hope is particularly welcome in a time when so many people are struggling throughout the country.

The economy is of course an issue. We’re all feeling the pinch of the economy. Food, gas, and nearly everything is getting more expensive. When I’ve bought plane tickets recently they’re much more expensive than usual.

Linda is taking a part in this campaign because she wants to see change in this country. She doesn’t want to imagine the alternative. “What if he didn’t win?” she says. “That whole prospect scares me. It would be an enormous loss for the potential of this level of change.” As November approaches, she has committed to continue to follow the election, be involved, and, of course, send her son clips about Barack from the newspaper. “I’m excited about this election in a new way that I’ve never felt.”

Voices for Change is a series featuring profiles of Barack Obama's grassroots supporters from across the nation. The people who make up this movement come from all different backgrounds, but they share a common goal – to help bring about fundamental change in Washington.

Add to del.icio.us

Digg this

Post to Furl

Add to reddit

Add to myYahoo!

"John McCain Is a War President"

Fellow Republican Pat Buchanan said it so eloquently...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Add to del.icio.us

Digg this

Post to Furl

Add to reddit

Add to myYahoo!

"I Wanted To Do Something To Help Make History"

Canvassing is one of the easiest ways to get involved in this campaign. And face-to-face contact with friends, neighbors, and undecided voters is the most effective way to grow our movement. Two women shared their canvassing experiences with us as they get ready for the fall.

Pam in South Dakota said:

This is the first time I have ever been inspired to help out with a political campaign, not just because of who Senator Obama is but because my husband is in the military and I want to see an end to this war.

The greatest experience I had while canvassing was when I rang the doorbell of a 54-year-old woman and her first words were, "Oh, I don't vote.  I've never voted.  But if I did, I'd vote for Obama."  I told her I really wished she would reconsider because this is one of the most important elections we have ever had in this country, and her voice is just as important as mine.  We chatted, comfortably, for a few minutes, and ended our conversation with a commitment from her that she would vote in the primary.  She even seemed a little proud to have changed her mind.  I hope she kept her word, and I believe she did.

Senator Obama won in my precinct, and I would like to believe I was a part of that.  We did a lot of walking and talking in South Dakota to wind things up in this primary.  We had fun, met a lot of people, got drenched, dried off and walked some more.  Wherever you are, I encourage you to join the efforts in the months to come.  You can't imagine how rewarding it is until you've actually done it.

Carolyn in North Carolina said:

I am 52-years-old and I have always been uninterested in politics.  But this year Barack Obama opened a new and inspiring chapter in my life.  

I had been depressed for several years about the world, especially climate change.  Now I feel hope every day, and a great sense of being part of a positive "movement" where people are going to be willing to make lifestyle changes that will bring us all a more meaningful quality of life.  I think in Barack Obama we have a leader they can bring that out in us.

Two days before the North Carolina primary, I decided to try canvassing.  I wanted to do something to help make history happen.  It was kind of like taking a survey, but some people seemed to enjoy talking.  Thirteen people were voting for Obama, 11 were undecided, and one said she was voting for Hillary.

I called some of my friends to catch up, and asked them who they were voting for.  Several said that they were undecided.  I told them that I was voting for Obama, and did they mind if I shared why I thought he would be a better president?  We had good conversations and listened to each other.  I think all my friends ended up voting for Obama.

All the people that I have met working together on this campaign have been warm -- it's like a big happy family.  I wear a Barack Obama T-shirt when I go into the city and people stop me to talk to me.  I have never been politically active in my life before and it feels great to care about things and to join hands with others who do as well.

This will make you know you are part of something bigger than just yourself.  We are all connected.

And with less than 100 days to go before the general election, we can't afford to sit on the sidelines -- we have to start now. Visit our Action Center to get involved in your community today.

Add to del.icio.us

Digg this

Post to Furl

Add to reddit

Add to myYahoo!

"I'm Voting for John McCain Because...." Or How I
Found mrwrite

In responding to Kate's plea for additional voices at TeeBeeDee, I read this wonderfully tongue-firmly-planted-i

read more

Add to del.icio.us

Digg this

Post to Furl

Add to reddit

Add to myYahoo!

Morning News

From the Associated Press:

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama went for an early morning jog along Kailua Beach and played golf on Saturday, the first full day of his Hawaii vacation.

The Illinois senator hit the beach with between six and eight security agents.

…He stopped to shake hands and chat with other beachgoers walking or jogging along the shore. Some of them took impromptu photos as Obama ran past.

…"Maybe we'll go back down to the beach and see if we could see him. That would be real cool -- our future president down at our beach," said surfer Anthony Burris.

But other neighbors said they hope Obama fans will give him space.

"I hope they leave him alone," said neighbor Sandy Hanover-Ebner. "Give him privacy and vote for him for president."

Workers at Zippy's and Rainbow Drive-In, two restaurants Obama told supporters at Friday's rally he may visit for local food, were excited about the possibility of serving the candidate.

Jim Gusukuma of Rainbow Drive-In said the Honolulu eatery was ready to serve the presidential candidate whatever he wants.

"We're very honored that Mr. Obama mentioned us and has eaten here in the past," Gusukuma said.

From the Denver Post:

Democrats adopted a party platform Saturday.

…The 51-page document, which sets out the party's basic stance on issues, reflects the priorities of Barack Obama, the presumptive nominee. From his call to draw down American forces in Iraq over 16 months to an energy plan that emphasizes less oil and more renewable energy sources, the platform calls for a major change in direction for the government.

Other highlights of the platform included a call to repeal the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, support for tying the minimum wage to inflation and new language addressing the use of federal lands.

"It (the platform) is really something Sen. Obama can run on and the rest of us can run on," said Peter Groff, president of the Colorado Senate and one of those on the 186-member platform committee that approved the document. The platform will be voted on in two weeks at the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

…Though it calls for change, the platform harkens to a New Deal-era style of government, mentioning Franklin Roosevelt three times and calling for greater civic participation.

"Today, we pledge a return to core moral principles like stewardship, service to others, personal responsibility, shared sacrifice and a fair shot for all," the platform reads. "Today, we Democrats offer leaders — from the White House to the statehouse — worthy of this country's trust."

…The 2008 platform, though, calls Iraq an "unnecessary war" and a "strategic blunder." Clinton was among Democrats who voted to authorize military action in Iraq.

The document also calls for removing as many as two brigades a month for a complete redeployment within 16 months, leaving a residual force in Iraq to advise the Iraqi military, target terrorists and protect American personnel and assets.

The document states the U.S. should make clear it seeks no permanent bases in Iraq. At the same time, the platform calls for increasing U.S. involvement in Afghanistan by sending at least two additional combat brigades, helping build the country's education system and providing alternatives for poppy-growing farmers.

Obama and Clinton both support what they call "universal health care." … The different camps ultimately agreed on general wording, which notes that there are "different approaches within the Democratic Party" but says there is a "commitment that every American man, woman and child be guaranteed to have affordable, comprehensive health care."

From the Honolulu Star-Bulletin:

At his homecoming rally Friday, Barack Obama paid tribute to his late mother, a single mom who sacrificed to ensure he received the best education. His next stop was to visit his 85-year-old grandmother.

These two strong women each were pioneers in their fields and helped shape the presidential candidate's outlook on life. "Like his mother, Barry is a pragmatic idealist," said Alice Dewey, an emeritus professor at the University of Hawaii and family friend. "If you have ideals and want to accomplish things, you've got to be pragmatic about it."

…All his life, Obama has been surrounded by strong women who forged their own paths in the workplace while raising their children -- from his grandmother, to his mother, his sister and now his wife.

"For Barry, it's like the air you breathe," said Alice Dewey, an emeritus professor of anthropology at the University of Hawaii and mentor of his mother's. "He's never known anything else. Here in Hawaii, the proportion of women working outside the home has always been high."

Obama's grandmother, a reserved, no-nonsense woman who helped raise him, started as a clerk at Bank of Hawaii in 1960 and quietly worked her way up to become a vice president a decade later.

His mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, was 18 when she gave birth to Barack and she had a tough time financially after her divorce. But she went back to college and ultimately became an anthropologist, working with poor villagers in Indonesia. His wife, Michelle, juggles her career and the role she cherishes most: as mother of their two daughters.

…"They're a simple family," said Georgia McCauley, a longtime family friend. "They're not pretentious. His grandmother's lived in the same two-bedroom apartment for 40 years. They never drove fancy cars. They chose to put their resources into education and travel. ... Their success was based on intellect and hard work, grandparents who sacrificed. It's the American story."

"The work ethic she gave me was, 'If you want to get ahead, you work hard and you work wise,'" [Dennis Ching] said.

…They also see his mother's touch in Obama's optimism, warmth, eloquence and even his campaign mantra of "change we can believe in."

"His mother was a change agent," Abercrombie said. "He had only to observe his mother in her life actions to see that here was someone who believed she could change the world by her individual acts, whether it was marrying his father or trying to help poor women free themselves from the bondage of centuries."

From Reuters:

U.S. presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain stepped up their criticism of Russia's military activity in Georgia on Saturday, calling for Moscow to withdraw its forces and the international community to facilitate peace talks.

…Obama, on vacation in Hawaii, said he had also spoken to Saakashvili and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Russia and Georgia came into direct conflict after Tbilisi launched an offensive to regain control over the breakaway region of South Ossetia.

…Obama called for direct talks among all sides and said the United States, the U.N. Security Council and other parties should try to help bring about a peaceful resolution.

"I condemn Russia's aggressive actions and reiterate my call for an immediate ceasefire," Obama said in a statement.

"Russia must stop its bombing campaign, cease flights of Russian aircraft in Georgian airspace, and withdraw its ground forces from Georgia."

…Obama has stepped up his criticism of Russia since the crisis started. He called for an international peacekeeping force and said Russia could not be a neutral mediator for political disputes over South Ossetia and Abkhazia -- both pro-Russian separatist regions backed by Moscow.

"The current escalation of military conflict resulted in part from the lack of a neutral and effective peacekeeping force operating under an appropriate UN mandate," Obama said. "Russia cannot play a constructive role as peacekeeper."

From the Salt Lake Tribune:

Barack Obama's presidential campaign has a new state director on the ground in Utah, the first time the Republican state has seen this level of attention from a national Democratic candidate.

Suzanne Gelderman, who has worked for the campaign helping to organize Western states, will lead the Obama campaign's efforts in Utah.

"When I told people I was going out to Utah, I got a similar question, if there are any Democrats in Utah and I said, 'You know, there are more than you think,' " Gelderman, who arrived in Utah on Friday afternoon, told a group of local Democratic leaders Saturday.

Gelderman said the campaign hopes that the effort will start to move Utah in the same direction politically as its Western neighbors, which have changed from Republican states to Democratic states.

"We've seen it happen in Colorado. Montana is getting close," she said. "We might not make it there this November [in Utah], but together we can get there."

Even if Obama doesn't win the state, Gelderman said, getting people excited about voting for a Democrat helps the party in other races on the ballot.

For now, Obama's campaign is the only one with a Utah office. John McCain's campaign has regional offices in New Mexico and Arizona, but is relying on an all-volunteer organization in Utah. That could change as Election Day nears.

…The Obama campaign has said it will have offices in every state, made possible because of the campaign's unprecedented fundraising. "Utah is very symbolic of our 50-state strategy," Gelderman said. "Utah deserves to have a voice, just as much as California and New York."

Add to del.icio.us

Digg this

Post to Furl

Add to reddit

Add to myYahoo!