Home add your blog Archives Search Contact RSS FEED

This site is an rss/xml news reader containing our favorite feeds. All articles are the copyrighted material of the blogs that wrote them.

Healthcare's failing grades

post from Republicans for Obama - Public Blog on 19 July 2008 11:32:28 PM. © Republicans for Obama - Public Blog

We've talked here in the past about the healthcare rankings that came out a few years ago that showed the U.S.

Read The Full Article:
http://www.republicansforobama.org/?q=node/1528

Digg this

healthcare's failing grades

post from Republicans for Obama - Public Blog on 19 July 2008 11:32:28 PM. © Republicans for Obama - Public Blog

We've talked here in the past about the healthcare rankings that came out a few years ago that showed the U.S.

Read The Full Article:
http://www.republicansforobama.org/?q=node/1528

Digg this

Vote for Change: Building Community on the Courts

post from Obama HQ on 19 July 2008 09:51:07 PM. © Obama HQ

Hundreds of people gathered at Fairgrounds Park in Saint Louis, Missouri today to take in some intense 3-on-3 basketball and enjoy a variety of complimentary services offered by local organizations. As teams from across the area competed in tournament style play, locals enjoyed free food and health exams, and engaged in political discourse.

Volunteers with Barack Obama’s Campaign for Change circulated in the crowd, passing out stickers to supporters and registering new voters. Local elected Democratic officials and candidates were also present, connecting with the community and enjoying the festivities.

The third annual tournament and community fair was organized by State Senator Jeff Smith. As he told us yesterday, he feels basketball can instill life lessons in its participants that extend far beyond the court.

I learned to play basketball at parks across the northside when I was growing up, and the friendships I made and lessons I learned on the court are a big part of the person I am today… you learn about teamwork and forge deep bonds with your teammates, and you develop a competitive fire that's tough to extinguish.

That’s a passion that he hopes to see translate into political action, not only in the local community but on the national level as well.

Below are pictures from today’s event. To get involved in your own area, sign up to take part in an existing event or create your own.

Read The Full Article:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/HQblog/gGx7Y4

Digg this

On the Ground: 20 New Virginia Offices

post from Obama HQ on 19 July 2008 08:22:28 PM. © Obama HQ

WSET News reports:

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is making a major push to win Virginia in November. Saturday the campaign opened 20 field offices around the Commonwealth. A crowd gathered to open this office in downtown Lynchburg Saturday morning. Local party leader John Lawrence says it's the first time a democratic presidential candidate has had an official campaign office here since Lyndon Johnson.

Adam Cooper is on the ground in Virginia, and was on hand today for the Richmond office opening:

If you live in Virginia, you can find an office near you now.

Read The Full Article:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/stateupdates/gGx7Ym

Digg this

Quote of the Day: May Bush Die in The Hague

post from Why We Need Obama on 19 July 2008 07:22:00 PM. © Why We Need Obama

Awesome:

The Iraq war is and has always been an obscenity, a filthy lie born of avarice and lust for power masquerading as virtue. This is what imperialism looks like. But the age of empire is over. The same hubris that led Bush into the Iraq disaster led him to miscalculate, again and again, over how to entrench it. But now he is impotent, unable to impose his will, and the nakedness of his attempted imposition has led the American and the Iraqi peoples to wake up and end his nightmare. May his war-crimes prosecutor be Iraqi; may his judge be American; and may he die in the Hague.

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WeNeedObama/~3/340216909/quote-of-day-may-bush-die
-in-hague.html

Digg this

Obama: Burying the 'Dumb President' Meme

post from Why We Need Obama on 19 July 2008 07:15:00 PM. © Why We Need Obama

Thank God:

Our most brilliant presidents, [Author Elvin T.] Lim says, often work hard to seem publicly dumb in order to avoid the stain of elitism?amazingly, Bill Clinton?s total rhetorical output checks in at a lower reading level than Bush?s. Clinton?s former speechwriters told Lim that their image-conscious boss always demanded that his speeches be ?more talky?; today, he?s widely remembered as a brilliant speaker who never gave a memorable speech...

Obama seems to have taken the opposite tack: He?s a Clinton-style natural who flaunts the artifice of his speeches and refuses to strategically hide his intelligence. Compared with his rivals, Obama?s skill-set seems almost otherworldly. His phrases line up regularly in striking and meaningful patterns; his cliché ratio is, for a politician, admirably low; his stresses and pauses seem dictated less by the usual metronome of generic political speech than by the actual structures of meaning behind his words. He tolerates complexity to such an extent that he?s sometimes criticized as ?professorial,? which allows him to get away with inspirational catchphrases that would sound like platitudes coming from anyone else.

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WeNeedObama/~3/340216910/obama-burying-dumb-presid
ent-meme.html

Digg this

Organizing Fellows: Delia in Colorado

post from Obama HQ on 19 July 2008 07:11:31 PM. © Obama HQ

As part of a continuing series, we're following Obama Organizing Fellows as they share their stories and their experiences. They discuss the people they meet, the hardships of organizing, what the campaign means to them, and how this summer is changing their perspective.

Delia is an Organizing Fellow in Colorado. Her stories appear each Saturday.

I've been blown away by the caring nature of the readers of my weekly blog. When I wrote about Tomas and his mother last week I had no idea that it would generate so much interest. It made me feel good to know that people still care about their fellow man. So I felt I owed it to you to let you know how the story ended.

My story was posted last Saturday, and by Sunday a community service activity was planned to clean up Tomas' yard. One volunteer named James could not be at the clean up, but still wanted to help. So he donated a case of water for the volunteers along with trash bags, candy bars and $100.00 to go towards trash removal to the dump. We worked on Tomas' yard Sunday night and Monday afternoon and we got a lot accomplished. He was very grateful and I told him I would check up on him next week. Again, I just want to thank everyone for their outpouring of support. This truly is what this campaign is all about; building community.
Community service was not the only thing we accomplished this week. By far, this has been the busiest week yet. We had organizational meetings and an office opening, along with doing our house meetings and voter registration drives. But through it all, we pulled together as a team and every activity was a success.

One thing that sticks out in my mind is how the community is really taking personal ownership of this campaign. I remember when I first started the fellowship; we organized everything for the volunteers. Now, they are beginning to organize themselves. I have one volunteer named Patrick who has taken it upon himself to organize a voter registration drive at one of the local homeless shelters. And another volunteer has expressed interest in putting together the next organizational meeting.
This fellowship has shown me that people are hungry for change, and when given the opportunity they really do want to get involved. And though we have a long road in front of us, we have volunteers that are amazing. Even after my fellowship ends, I know that they will not let the ball drop; they will keep pushing forward, engaging their neighbors and friends. It's people like them that make me think that this program really is worth while and the work we are doing really is making history.

Check back next week for more from Delia in Colorado, and visit our Flickr page for more of her photos.

Read The Full Article:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/obamahqblog/gGx7hZ

Digg this

Iraqi PM Backs Obama Troop Withdrawal Plan

So, who's supposed to be a foreign policy lightweight?

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki told a German magazine he supported prospective U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's proposal that U.S. troops should leave Iraq within 16 months.
In an interview with Der Spiegel released on Saturday, Maliki said he wanted U.S. troops to withdraw from Iraq as soon as possible.

"U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama talks about 16 months. That, we think, would be the right timeframe for a withdrawal, with the possibility of slight changes."

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WeNeedObama/~3/340208129/iraqi-pm-backs-obama-troo
p-withdrawal.html

Digg this

Organizing for Change: Obama Campaign at Netroots
Nation

Hey everyone - a bunch of us are down in Austin at the annual Netroots Nation conference. This morning, we held a panel titled Organizing for Change: An Inside Look at Obama For America's Grassroots Strategy.

Deputy Campaign Manager Steve Hildebrand, New Media Director Joe Rospars, Ohio General Election Director Jeremy Bird, and Georgia Deputy Field Director Joy Cushman, shared stories and insights from the campaign and took questions.

I covered the event live at my Daily Kos diary -- check it out here. Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Read The Full Article:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/samgrahamfelsen/gGx7sf

Digg this

Iraq End Game Tilting To Barack

Photo: Maliki Greets Ahmadinejad Note: since this was written, 'spokemen' for Maliki tried to spin this as not intended to endorse a candidate.

Maliki Backs
Obama Timeline
For Withdrawal

By Tom Hayden
Huffington Post

In a stunning diplomatic breakthrough for Barack Obama, Iraq's prime minister yesterday endorsed the Democratic candidate's 16-month timeline for withdrawing combat troops from Iraq.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki endorsed the Obama approach in a July 18 interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel, just as President Bush and Sen. John McCain were touting a vague new commitment to a "horizon" for withdrawal. The New York Times did not report the Maliki statement in its July 19 edition.

Uncertainty about Maliki's surprise statement persists since his top political spokesman told the Times only one week ago that troop withdrawals would take three to five years, if not longer. [NYT, July 11]. The number of American troops he would request as counter-terrrorism units, trainers and advisers could be tens of thousands.

But as Obama's plane touched down in Afghanistan, Maliki's comments were having a far-reaching effect on the war and presidential politics, with the Maliki government withdrawing from George Bush and making McCain appear foolish.

This could be the "Philippine option" predicted in Ending the War in Iraq, in which the US arranged behind the scenes for the Manila government to request the departure of the American fleet.
While the sequencing may be accidental, it appears that the Obama forces could reap a windfall. Obama will seem more successful than Bush in managing the last stages of the war, depriving McCain of the claim to superior foreign policy experience. Obama's imminent arrival in Baghdad could seem like a victory lap in the foreign policy "primary."

Why would Maliki break so sharply with his long-time US partner in the White House? Are the Iraqis more adept at playing American politics than the White House is?

As noted before at this site, Iraqi public opinion -- Shi'a and Sunni -- strongly favors a deadline for American troop withdrawal. The provincial elections to be held later this year [at the insistence of the US] will produce victories for candidates who demand ending the occupation, both in Sunni areas like Anbar and Mahdi Army areas like Sadr City. Maliki's coalition must appear to stand for Iraqi sovereignty and the departure of US forces.

Somewhere in the background is Iran with its strong ties to the entire Shi'a community in Iraq. The Iranian interest is in keeping Shi'a factions unified in a demand that the US troops and bases are folding up and returning home. Iran believes that a retreating US will be less able to strike from positions of strength on the ground if a US-Iran conflict takes place.

Besides Iran and the Shi'a bloc, the big winners in this scenario would be the multinational oil companies now subtly assuring themselves access to Iraq's oilfields after thirty years of absence.
The Bush Administration could mask defeat in claims of "mission accomplished", perhaps with garlands of flowers provided by Maliki at a joint ceremony.

Though genuine peace would a blessing, the real losers stand to be the Sunni minority which is the backbone of the insurgency, and the long-suffering Shi'a poor in Sadr City whose social-economic needs are little recognized by the dominant Shi'a party. In the region's geo-politics, Saudi Arabia would be angered at the rise of greater Shi'a and Iranian power in potentially competitive oil fields. And despite their alarm about Iran's nuclear plans, Israel would welcome an Iraq shorn of its power in the Sunni world.

As for al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia, they could claim a victory in helping drive the American forces out of Iraq, but their narrow public support would shrink further if Iraqis recover sovereignty. A loophole in the Obama plan, certainly endorsed by Maliki, would allow American counter-terrorism units to go after alleged al-Qaeda units operating in Iraq as US combat forces draw down.

The huge "if" hovering over this sudden development is simply whether the Bush Administration can force Maliki to back down from his statement, or at least retreat from going further.

Here is Maliki's statement, delivered as Obama's visit to the region was beginning:

Whoever is thinking about the shorter term [for withdrawal] is closer to reality. Artificially extending the stay of U.S. troops would cause problems... As soon as possible, as far as we're concerned... Those who operate on the premise of short time periods in Iraq today are being more realistic... Artificially prolonging the tenure of US troops in Iraq would cause problems. U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama talks about 16 months. That, we think, would be the right timeframe for a withdrawal, with the possibility of slight changes.

Tom Hayden is the author of Ending the War in Iraq [2007].

http://progressivesforobama.blogspot.com

Read The Full Article:
http://progressivesforobama.blogspot.com/2008/07/iraq-end-game-tilting-to-barack.
html