Barack Obama!

[trading_rookie]

Re: Barack 2008!

Clinton looking to Texas...

@Doris, watched Eddie Murphy's Delirous on the weekend. Eddie had a gag or two re: racism and mentioned that he was told "don't go to Texas (if you're not caucasian)...they'll f%$@! you up down there"...Obama's camp must be more than a little nervous going down south considering all his fanfare and a real chance of winning not only the Democratic card but the presidency as well.

 

[Doris]

Re: Barack 2008!

Clinton looking to Texas...

@Doris, watched Eddie Murphy's Delirous on the weekend. Eddie had a gag or two re: racism and mentioned that he was told "don't go to Texas (if you're not caucasian)...they'll f%$@! you up down there"...Obama's camp must be more than a little nervous going down south considering all his fanfare and a real chance of winning not only the Democratic card but the presidency as well.

I must check out that movie TR!

I can't recall who said this but it's potent thinking:

"We would accomplish many more things if we did not think of them as impossible."

I fully agree with your sentiment about Texas! I had a few days in Houston and Galveston before and after a cruise in the Caribbean this time last year. Of course I spoke to locals about their thoughts on Obama. I had to stand back when someone had heard of him and they retorted "He's BLACK!" GWB was a demigod in their eyes. They were incredible as they edified me about how he was a very good Christian and how he had gone to Iraq to keep the terrorists out... nothing at all to do with oil. Maybe the fact that gas was about $1.90 a gallon there yet $2.20 in Orange County had a little to do with his lobbyists' support too?

Today Obama said: "Though we won in Washington, D.C., this movement won't stop until there is change in Washington, D.C., and tonight we're on our way. At this moment, the cynics can no longer say our hope is false."

Barack is expected to win in Hawaii and Wisconsin next week so Hillary is focussing on Ohio and Texas. Ohio because of its economic problems and sizable blue-collar population and Texas because of its large Latino vote which she has done well with.

The changes in demographic votes today were interesting:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...01901_2.html?hpid=topnews&sid=ST2008021300052

Another interesting move today:

" Los Angeles County election officials will attempt to tally the ballots of tens of thousands of nonpartisan voters whose choice for president wasn't included in California's Feb. 5 primary result, as county officials vowed Tuesday to change the confusing ballot in the nation's largest voting jurisdiction to prevent such a mishap from reoccurring.

"In a political sense, will it likely change the outcome in the Democratic primary or in the delegate count? Probably not," said Tony West, a top official in Obama's California campaign operation. "But that doesn't mean it doesn't matter.

"We've seen that turnout has nearly doubled (in Democratic primaries) in every single contest from what it was four years ago," West said. "To tell those people who are new to the process that their vote doesn't count sends them a very bad message."

(Last Tuesday's confusion was experienced mostly by California voters who registered as "decline to state" instead of affiliating with a political party.

Elsewhere in California, a decline-to-state voter only had to request a Democratic ballot at the poll on election day or in advance by mail. However, Los Angeles County required unaffiliated voters to fill in a bubble at the top of their ballot indicating that they would be participating in either the Democratic or the Independent primary. If they didn't fill in it, their presidential vote wouldn't be counted, but the rest of their state and local choices would.)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/13/MNS3V1BT1.DTL&type=politics

A simple life is its own reward...

 

[wayneL]

Re: Barack 2008!

How can you sleep at one of the most pivotal times of this planet's history!?

Don't you know how life will change for the better with the leadership of this man?

It is imperative that the momentum continues.
It is imperative that Barack wins the nomination.
It is imperative that he cleans up the mess made of the US and the world over the past seven years.

Yes. He. Can.

Today Obama said: "Though we won in Washington, D.C., this movement won't stop until there is change in Washington, D.C., and tonight we're on our way. At this moment, the cynics can no longer say our hope is false."

Doris,

* What people say they will do, and what they actually do, is often divergent. What leads you to believe Obama is any different?

* You implied that an Obama presidency will change life for the better for all of us, yet Barack has only ever disgused change in the US legislature. How will this be the most pivotal time in the planet's history? That sound like more rhetoric to me.

* How will Obama work throuhgh the entrenched vested interests in the status quo, without being frustrated, hindered or destroyed?

* Why should we in Oz or elsewhere be interested?

I acknowledge your hope for Obama, but these are fair questions. I would appreciate answers.

 

[Doris]

Re: Barack 2008!

What a day! What a man!

Total Delegates to Date:

Obama:

Pledged: 1059
Superdelegates: 156
Total: 1215


Clinton:

Pledged: 956
Superdelegates: 234
Total: 1190

I will sleep well tonight. Only 810 votes to go! (and no calls to make!)

http://edition.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/primaries/results/scorecard/#D



417,133 donations to Obama’s campaign so far this year as of right now!

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________________________________________
From: David Plouffe, BarackObama.com [mailto:info@barackobama.com]
Sent: Wednesday, 13 February 2008 2:31 PM
To: Doris *******
Subject: A big night

Doris --

Thanks to you, Barack won all three of today's contests decisively.

Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, DC join a sweep of eight straight victories since Barack won the most states and the most delegates on Super Tuesday.

But the race for the Democratic nomination remains close. It's going to be a fight for every vote and every delegate in the remaining 18 contests.

Each of us needs to take responsibility for getting as many people involved in this campaign as possible.

More than 400,000 people have donated to this campaign in 2008, and we are on course to reach half-a-million donors before the crucial March 4th primaries and caucuses.

The upcoming contests in Wisconsin, Texas, Ohio, and Pennsylvania will demand energy and resources on an unprecedented scale.

It's going to take all of us to keep these victories going. But if anyone is up to the task, it's this movement.

Thanks for your support,

David

David Plouffe
Campaign Manager
Obama for America


Paid for by Obama for America
This email was sent to: doris.********@bigpond.com

 

[noirua]

Re: Barack 2008!

Obama had a good result in Virginia but the outcomes for Washington DC and Maryland were in line with expectations.
It will be the big States in March that will be decisive. Look more to States like Texas where the main delegate allocations are.

 

[wayneL]

Re: Barack 2008!

Stop spamming and answer my questions.

 

[Doris]

Re: Barack 2008!

Doris,
I acknowledge your hope for Obama, but these are fair questions. I would appreciate answers.

I have been up late at nights walking my talk by making phone calls.
I have been working all day with testosterone infested adolescents.
I am done.

Please DYOR and draw your own conclusions. We each have this freedom.
Those who do not listen do not hear.

________________________________________
From: Nikki Sutton
Sent: Tuesday, 12 February 2008 11:11 PM
To: Phone Banking for Barack
Subject: [PhoneBankingforBarack] The polls are open!

National Call Team,

Thank you for your incredible contribution to the sweeping victories this weekend! Yesterday, we made over 45,000 calls to help get out the vote.

We must keep the momentum going with Maryland, Washington DC, and Virginia. If every one of us commits to making calls today, think what a difference we can make. Please help us reach a goal of 100,000 calls before the polls close.

Now is our time! The polls are open in Maryland, Washington DC, and Virginia! It's time to get out the vote for Barack:

Just select a state on the map, go to, "Click here to get started," login and then select the first name on your list. You'll see their number and the script. Remember to click, "Done" at the end of the call to go to the next number.

Pick up the phone and get started calling. Your voice can change the world!

Nikki

PS - If you speak Spanish or know anyone who does, we need your help reaching out to Spanish speaking voters in Virginia.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
This email was sent to 3326 members of Phone Banking for Barack
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[wayneL]

Re: Barack 2008!

I have been up late at nights walking my talk by making phone calls.
I have been working all day with testosterone infested adolescents.
I am done.

Please DYOR and draw your own conclusions. We each have this freedom.
Those who do not listen do not hear.

So you don't have the answers. Thanks, that's all I needed to know.

Godspeed to you and this exercise in futility.

 

[2020hindsight]

Re: Barack 2008!

So you don't have the answers. Thanks, that's all I needed to know. Godspeed to you and this exercise in futility.

a/ He's duplicitous in internal matters.
b/ He's a foreign affairs hawk, a jingo.
'nuff said!

doris
using wayne's answer as a draft
you're allowed to say 14 words

btw, don't ask wayne to agree that it's at all relevant to vote for someone who thinks green -
he prefers to walk to the pub and mumble about things under his breath

 

[wayneL]

Re: Barack 2008!

doris
using wayne's answer as a draft
you're allowed to say 14 words

btw, don't ask wayne to agree that it's at all relevant to vote for someone who thinks green -
he prefers to walk to the pub and mumble about things under his breath

As per usual, you completely miss the point.

My answer was fair response and irrelevant in any case. I cannot vote in US elections.

However, I have asked fair questions and received nothing but double talk and amateur rhetoric in response. Ignoring questions doesn't make them go away, it amplifies them as it accentuates the lack of an answer.

Now you butt in with irrelevant ad hominem insults. Childish stuff.

Now butt out 2020, and let Doris, who has been the most verbose in this thread, to stick up for herself.

 

[2020hindsight]

Re: Barack 2008!

As per usual, you completely miss the point.

My answer was fair response and irrelevant in any case. I cannot vote in US elections.

However, I have asked fair question and received nothing but double talk and amateur rhetoric in response. Now you butt in with irrelevant ad hominem insults. Childish stuff.

Now butt out 2020, and let Doris, who has been the most verbose in this thread, to stick up for herself.

wayne
Lemme ask you a question then (in parallel if you wish)
what's your opinion of this man
Is he relevant to the future of the world

and please don't just pass off a lot of jingoism

 

[wayneL]

Re: Barack 2008!

wayne
Lemme ask you a question then (in parallel if you wish)
what's your opinion of this man
Is he relevant to the future of the world

and please don't just pass off a lot of jingoism

What has jingoism got to do with your question? Another tangent.

But FWIW (and it doesn't matter) is this:

He seems to be a decent guy with a genuine vision of where he wants Amerika to go. But I'm not one who is impressed with flashy rhetorical oratory. That's pure car salesmanship. Though it could be argued that that is the best way to market to the plebs.

I'm more on practicalities and details. HOW is he going to do all he claims? He will face real opposition from the KKK oriented part of white society as well as the scorched earth capitalists. It will NOT be easy and it will be personally dangerous.

If he pulls it off, I hope he can do something good, but I'm not betting on it.

I would however, be impressed if Amerika did elect a black president on merit, or a woman for that matter.

As I say, pure banter as it is irrelevant to me, you and Doris.

 

[2020hindsight]

Re: Barack 2008!

Wayne
I agree with you that Doris seems to be somewhat infatuated with the guy
but having said that she called it early and she seems to have called it right - so let's give her that bit of credit ( even if it was a fluke)

but ( some thoughts for the day)
1. Keating once said "you change a govt and you change a nation"
2. We are experiencing JUST THAT at the moment
3. Maybe USA will too
PS I hope so - let's call it the age of enlightenment when GWBush leaves office - WHOEVER follows in his wake.

 

[noirua]

Re: Barack 2008!

A Democratic President would have a great start, who ever it is, as Congess and the Senate have Democratic majorities. However, this is likely to change as Americans I've spoken to over the years vote for, say, a Democrat as President but a Republican as a Senate member.
This points to the eventual lack of power of the President.

Growth in the US economy will be low and after George W Bushs' economy boost there isn't going to be that much room for manouvre.

The position in Iraq and Afghanistan is difficult. Very easy to say what should or should not have been done, but now a position of being stuck in these countries with a zero position to manouvre in Afghanistan, and only a reduction in troops in Iraq back to the levels of 2006.

Both Clinton and Obama talk about what they will do or what should be done. In reality, the money isn't there for health care hopes and improving the lot of blacks and other groups in America.

 

[trading_rookie]

Re: Barack 2008!

I must check out that movie TR!

Considering the sign of the times, it very much parallels Obama with then possible Presidential candidates Harold Washington and Jesse Jackson and a gag about dummy votes to Jackson which see's him becoming President and then dancing and sidestepping all over the stage to avoid a bullet...

Still I'm a Clinton fan...the world seemed more at peace the last time a Clinton was in the White House...

 

[Julia]

Re: Barack 2008!

Still I'm a Clinton fan...the world seemed more at peace the last time a Clinton was in the White House...

Yes, agreed. Hard to imagine now that the most newsworthy issue for months on end (rather than wars, subprime messes, credit squeezes etc.) at that time was Bill Clinton's sex life.

 

[prawn_86]

Re: Barack 2008!

Those who do not listen do not hear.

All we are hearing is rhetoric spouted from the mouth of every single politician that has ever got into power.

I assure you that if you listened to politicians on the other side, or here in Aus, or even Hillary, there would be so many similarites its not funny.

I am with Wayne. I fail to see how Obama will change the world let alone America, and why we should even care since we dont have a say in it anyway.

Did you care about the British, Japanese, French etc etc elections? I certainly didnt. Hell i barely cared about the Australina elections, due to the fact that politicians do not and cannot ever achieve major strides in advancing a country

 

[mayk]

Re: Barack 2008!

Politicians do some time achieve greatness. JFK got us (or US) on the moon, name a single president who can spend 150B (catered for inflation) on a space program today.

Political will, can make or break a country. Quaid made Pakistan, Ghandi made india and Kashmir was a lifetime gift from Britian...Still They changed the life of more than billion people on earth today. And you say politicians do not matter!

I am all for Obama, but I assume the hidden hatred (racism) will ultimately take its toll and he might be dropped out of the Whitehouse race.

Obama can change history if he can put some long term peace solution in Iraq, make peace with Iran and stablize Afghanistan. World might see peace again.
After repeating peace so many times I end my post with

PEACE.

 

[Doris]

Re: Barack 2008!

A new leader is what this is about. Dah…

The US is looking for a new leader. In order to do this they have two major organisations that are steeped in history and habit. Even back in the mid C19, money was needed to travel across the nation and to advertise/promote their candidates. To do this, they accepted funds from lobbyists and were indebted to them once they took office. Hence they have been figure-heads for those who put them there.
This was not being a leader of those who did the voting so the delegates could vote them in! Obama has no lobbyists on board!

A leader is someone who guides and inspires others to follow. They do not do all the work. Right now, across Australia, schools are having their investiture ceremonies where their student leaders take their oaths. They are not expected, nor should they, do all the work. Consensus is reached by listening to other students and representing them. They have all been voted into their positions because they inspired others to let them guide them.

Politics is, by definition, ‘compromise for survival’.
This is one of the traits Obama seeks to change although flexibility is quite a different trait from ’selling out’:
McCain first declared that President Bush's tax cuts were unwise but now favours making them permanent.
"Somewhere along the line," Obama said, "he traded those principles for the nomination."

Obama is adamant on having an independent body to monitor Capitol Hill instead of “the toothless House Ethics Committee and its inability to punish members who break ethics rules”. Read problems: http://www.commonblog.com/story/2007/5/16/13388/8551

Clinton, speaking at a rally in Texas today, said: "I am in the solutions business. My opponent is in the promises business."
This is rhetoric! Why is Obama so popular in Illinois if he has not proven himself in the ‘solutions business’? DYOR

Today Obama’s proposed the establishment of a National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank, which would spend $60 billion over a decade to rebuild deteriorating roads, bridges and waterways. Obama said the spending would generate 2 million new jobs, many of them in a construction industry that has been hard hit by the housing market downturn.

Obama chants about ‘unity’. Why?
Even a five year-old knows a tug of war on a rope does not achieve anything but a passage of time, even if it is fun at the time.
If you are to pull down a wall that entraps you then all must pull in the same direction.
Obama has attracted a myriad of experienced, accomplished individuals who have banded together with the vision of shared values as their direction.

In a previous election when Kim Beazley was Opposition leader, listening to his election hype was painful because he constantly criticized and complained. I sent his party an email a month before the election advising my opinion that Australians wanted a leader who portrayed a nurturing figure, one who would take care of the problems and find solutions and all the press interviews were showing were his whinging and whining with no real direction nor hope for change. He needed to alter his image from someone who irritated the listener/viewer and focussed on negatives, to someone who could express empathy and offer an alternative. I compared him to Qld’s Rob Borbidge who I switched off and refused to listen to because he was forever whinging and whining and irritating. How can a potential voter bother to get involved in listening to policy when all they hear is complaining! I have to say that two weeks’ later his public persona changed and he spoke with dignity and paternal concern. I actually began to listen to him! But it was too late. Kevin Rudd, from day one, set himself up as nurturing and paternal. We listened. Can’t say the same of his deputy though!

To lead you must allow people to believe you care about them. Hillary has worked hard and done immense good but she has not portrayed the image of someone who is imbedded in their lives but rather, that she is self promoting. I believe people have voted for her because they have hope that she will make things better FOR them… the blue-collar workers, ethnic minorities et al.

Obama has always listened to gauge people’s concerns:

“… whether people were friendly, indifferent, or occasionally hostile, I tried my best to keep my mouth shut and hear what they had to say. I listened to people talk about their jobs, their businesses, the local school; their anger at Bush and their anger at Democrats; their dogs, their back pain, their war service and the things they remembered from childhood.

… If anything, what struck me was just how modest people’s hopes were, and how much of what they believed seemed to hold constant across race, region, religion and class. Most of them thought that anybody willing to work should be able to find a job that paid a living wage. They figured that people shouldn’t have to file for bankruptcy because they got sick. They believed that every child should have a genuinely good education- that it shouldn’t just be a bunch of talk- and that those same children should be able to go to college even if their parents weren’t rich. They wanted to be safe, from criminals and from terrorists; they wanted clean air, clean water and time with their kids. And when they got old they wanted to be able to retire with some dignity and respect.

That was about it. It wasn’t much. And although they understand that how they did in life depended mostly on their own efforts- although they didn’t expect government to solve all their problems and certainly didn’t like seeing their tax dollars wasted- they figured that government should help.”

 

[Doris]

Re: Barack 2008!

This time last night:

Total Delegates to Date:

Obama:

Pledged: 1059
Superdelegates: 156
Total: 1215

Clinton:

Pledged: 956
Superdelegates: 234
Total: 1190

I will sleep well tonight. Only 810 votes to go! (and no calls to make!)

http://edition.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/primaries/results/scorecard/#D

Latest figures:

Obama:

Pledged: 1096
Superdelegates: 157
Total: 1253

Clinton:

Pledged: 977
Superdelegates: 234
Total: 1211

Only 772 to go to get to the magic number of 2025!

Now y'all must think that is extraordinary given most people in Oz had not even heard of Barack Hussein Obama before 3 January in Iowa.

2020-- thought you might be interested:
The Iowa Caucuses also give Iowa an opportunity to showcase the state’s strengths on a world stage. Most Americans know that the state is ‘first in the nation’ in the presidential campaign but may not be aware of Iowa’s leadership role in renewable energy, manufacturing and biosciences, or the state's top ranking in quality of life. The caucuses help Iowa enhance its image as the "renewable energy capital of the nation" and reveal to all Americans why Iowa truly is a surprisingly life-changing place to visit, live, work, and play.

WayneL... just for you...
When I make calls to Wisconsin over the weekend... ahead of the primary there on Tuesday... I shall ask them your questions.
They are the voters.
Their opinions should be more relevant than a mere infatuated sheila eh?

Meanwhile, hear why Barack thinks someone in Hawaii should vote for him on Tuesday:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3GLyuVzIn8&eurl