On vacation ... so this will be brief.
Thought Bill's speech knocked it outta the park for bringing the party together ... Kerry was Kerry, but better than usual; appreciated the way he went after McCain ... and then Obama ... what can I say?
Brilliant, incisive, forceful - on the attack without being vicious or mean-spirited.
This is a man who can lead, command and guide.
We hear too much about experience ... we've had many a fine President with limited experience ... after all, what can prepare anyone for the office of the Presidency?
It's not about experience, but character and intelligence, both of which Obama possesses in unusual amounts.
Now that the DNC is closed, let's see what the Repubs can offer. We have a hint: with Palin, it's all about pandering to who knows what interests. Palin is a gun-totin', creationist, right-wing shoot-'em-dead, drill-drill-drill small-town Alaskan mayor - to what interest group is McCain appealing? Will Hillary supporters be impressed?
Oh well ... all they can promise is four more years of the last eight.
Obama and Obiden ... all the way.
Showing posts with label Clinton. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Clinton. Show all posts
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Obama Has It?
It looks like Obama has it.
Check out New York Times article.
Though a real fan of Hillary, I voted for Obama in the California primary - made the switch in the voting booth.
I hope the Party can heal the wounds and present a united front to the nation, helping end an era of arrogance and monetary/social policy that has brought us to the brink of ruin. It will take decades to recover our inner balance, repair the economy, divert war-monies to infrastructure and social need and restore our international reputation.
The Repub rebellion has failed! If there's anything true about history, it's this: that "rebellion" driven by greed and power always fails. When the haves drive the nation, the vision, at first, seems so reasonable, tapping into the desires everyone has, but they always run us into the ditch. An every-one-for-themselves economy always fails, because its lacks justice, and God the Creator denies success to any such vision that fails the "widow, the orphan and the stranger."
It's time for a new coalition of vision - not unlike that of FDR - in which government and business cooperate to rebuild the middle class, ease the nation away from it's oil-addictions, focus on public transportation, strengthen the social safety net, kick the lobbyists out and nationalize medicine like all the other civilized nations of the world, and once and for all, root out the "frontier mentality" of everyone for themselves.
Let's recover the word "liberal."
It's a positive word filled with grace.
Liberal in love and hope, liberal in vision and compassion.
Liberal enough to honestly describe the greed and malice that has dominated our nation for two generations now.
The other day, I attended a meeting of activists in West LA - working for a living wage for LAX hotel workers - they're all young and eager, and reminded me of the energy and vision of the young who transformed our nation in the Sixties.
Yet coming through the Nixon-Regan-Bush era, these young people are not starry-eyed dreamers - their incredibly realistic, they know the systems and how they work, they have a vision for justice - and a very real sense that justice is profitable - a lesson American business has to learn again.
The LAX hotels have spent more money fighting the LA City Council's resolution on a living wage then the living wage itself would have cost.
Make sense?
Hardly.
But through the consistent efforts of a variety of groups and the CA Supreme Court's recent decision to uphold the Living Wage Law, the hotels are getting in line to recognize the union, support their workers and get on with it.
Justice is profitable for everyone - though it means, and rightly so, that the haves will have just a little bit less (sorry Wall Street), and the have-nots will have a little more - and along with a decent wage comes self-esteem, hope, stable homes and a shot at life.
Hats off to CLUE (Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice) and LAANE (Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy).
And hats off to Obama, to Hillary and to the Dems ... may they lead us to a happier time.
Check out New York Times article.
Though a real fan of Hillary, I voted for Obama in the California primary - made the switch in the voting booth.
I hope the Party can heal the wounds and present a united front to the nation, helping end an era of arrogance and monetary/social policy that has brought us to the brink of ruin. It will take decades to recover our inner balance, repair the economy, divert war-monies to infrastructure and social need and restore our international reputation.
The Repub rebellion has failed! If there's anything true about history, it's this: that "rebellion" driven by greed and power always fails. When the haves drive the nation, the vision, at first, seems so reasonable, tapping into the desires everyone has, but they always run us into the ditch. An every-one-for-themselves economy always fails, because its lacks justice, and God the Creator denies success to any such vision that fails the "widow, the orphan and the stranger."
It's time for a new coalition of vision - not unlike that of FDR - in which government and business cooperate to rebuild the middle class, ease the nation away from it's oil-addictions, focus on public transportation, strengthen the social safety net, kick the lobbyists out and nationalize medicine like all the other civilized nations of the world, and once and for all, root out the "frontier mentality" of everyone for themselves.
Let's recover the word "liberal."
It's a positive word filled with grace.
Liberal in love and hope, liberal in vision and compassion.
Liberal enough to honestly describe the greed and malice that has dominated our nation for two generations now.
The other day, I attended a meeting of activists in West LA - working for a living wage for LAX hotel workers - they're all young and eager, and reminded me of the energy and vision of the young who transformed our nation in the Sixties.
Yet coming through the Nixon-Regan-Bush era, these young people are not starry-eyed dreamers - their incredibly realistic, they know the systems and how they work, they have a vision for justice - and a very real sense that justice is profitable - a lesson American business has to learn again.
The LAX hotels have spent more money fighting the LA City Council's resolution on a living wage then the living wage itself would have cost.
Make sense?
Hardly.
But through the consistent efforts of a variety of groups and the CA Supreme Court's recent decision to uphold the Living Wage Law, the hotels are getting in line to recognize the union, support their workers and get on with it.
Justice is profitable for everyone - though it means, and rightly so, that the haves will have just a little bit less (sorry Wall Street), and the have-nots will have a little more - and along with a decent wage comes self-esteem, hope, stable homes and a shot at life.
Hats off to CLUE (Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice) and LAANE (Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy).
And hats off to Obama, to Hillary and to the Dems ... may they lead us to a happier time.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Guns or Religion - Obama
Obama's remark about hard times and desperate people turning to guns or religion may have been expressed more sensitively, but the point he makes is accurate. Anger hides in the off-beaten corners of our society, even as it stalks us on our streets. Hard pressed and up against the wall, folks can turn to extreme private rights - such as guns, and it's only a breath away from right-wing religion - all of it, a champion of the down-and-out, channeling their sorrow into often destructive pathways.
I surely hope folks of intelligence and compassion will see in these remarks an accurate description of desperate people longing for meaning and power.
For those with power and wealth, for those with the means to effect positive change in their status, it's difficult to imagine what powerlessness feels like; how maddening it is to see your life's saving slip away, an ill child suffer for want of medical care because the family has no insurance, to see the future as a looming darkness and to live with unpaid bills, humiliating letters and late-night phone calls threatening suit and foreclosure, or whatever else is needed to intimidate those who live on the margins.
Obama is right, and I hope that Senator Clinton, herself a champion of the poor and the struggling middle class, refrains from attack, and helps call the nation's attention to the plight of millions, marshaling our resources and resolve to rebuild the middle class, rescue millions from the edge of poverty, rebuild our economic engines and thereby lessen the temptation to dysfunctional expressions of power and religion.
Obama is right!
I surely hope folks of intelligence and compassion will see in these remarks an accurate description of desperate people longing for meaning and power.
For those with power and wealth, for those with the means to effect positive change in their status, it's difficult to imagine what powerlessness feels like; how maddening it is to see your life's saving slip away, an ill child suffer for want of medical care because the family has no insurance, to see the future as a looming darkness and to live with unpaid bills, humiliating letters and late-night phone calls threatening suit and foreclosure, or whatever else is needed to intimidate those who live on the margins.
Obama is right, and I hope that Senator Clinton, herself a champion of the poor and the struggling middle class, refrains from attack, and helps call the nation's attention to the plight of millions, marshaling our resources and resolve to rebuild the middle class, rescue millions from the edge of poverty, rebuild our economic engines and thereby lessen the temptation to dysfunctional expressions of power and religion.
Obama is right!
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Nader
With all due respect, what is Nader doing?
He gave us Bush rather than Gore, and once again, his candidacy can only serve the interests of the Republican Party, and if this is his desired legacy, he'll have it in spades.
Only an incredibly inflated ego would dismiss all the candidates and suggest that he, and he alone, has what's necessary to renew the nation.
As a consumer advocate, a man of great value. As a candidate for the presidency, no value at all, except in the role of spoiler.
If anyone voted for him in the past, I hope they realize they might as well have cast their vote for Bush, and any vote for him again will give us McCain and endless war.
Mr. Nader, please go away!
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