I couldn't resist (and neither could they)

Just a quick couple of notes on the "campaign" and the insulting, pathetic and pointless stories that go with it. This morning, while walking to work, I noticed the NY Daily News headline "Smear We Go" with a picture of Barack Obama in the native dress of the nomadic people of Somalia. When leaders go to foreign countries, they do, on many occasions, dress like, or in the case of the failure in chief dance with, the native people of that country. Now, aside from the internationally insulting, "look at how silly he's dressed" angle of this, there is the American idea of a terrorist, or should I say anyone in a turban. A lot of people are pointing at the flailing Clinton campaign for putting this out, but would Hillary, or her husband Bill, really want to bring up Somalia? Insulting foreigners, fear of turbans, do as we say not as Our leader does, sounds awfully red to me. Personally, I think this photo of old man mccain is much more damning.

The Green character more hated then the Grinch, Ralph Nader, has once again thrown his hat in the ring for the Presidency of the United States. We all know that his 2 point something % of voters in 2000 was the reason that a three term Congressman, who served nine years in the US Senate, and was Vice President in an administration that oversaw 8 years of peace and prosperity lost to a one term governor, failed oil man, former alcoholic cheerleader, whose biggest accomplishment was having Houston become the most polluted city in the Union. The disgust with Nader must have been why the Dem.s rolled over with a collective "oh well" when the election was stolen. The Nader excuse for the miserable 2000 campaign illustrates a point that makes me throw up a little bit in my mouth when it comes to the party to which I am registered. The Democrats have been pathetic when it comes to taking ownership of the horrible campaign of their "substantive" detail oriented" candidate Al Gore, who has regained my respect since his "alpha male" presidential bid. Ross Perot garnered 18.9% of the popular vote in 1992. I don't remember hearing the reds crying about him costing george h.w. bush the election and certainly not after Eight Years, even with their arch-enemy in chief at the helm. I will not be voting for Presidential Candidate Nader, as I did in 1996 and 2000. But I firmly agree with him when he told tim russert "If the Democrats can't landslide the Republicans this year, they ought to just wrap up, close down, emerge in a different form."

A couple of other things on the internets:

• "Facts" are pointless in political campaigns, especially when they are equated to speculations coupled with "personal assurances" by former front runners. DailyKos has a list of Senator Obama's legislative accomplishments as a US Senator. Not bad for such a "lightweight".
• Frank Rich has a great piece on the candidate who will be able to govern on "day one" and how her campaign shows otherwise.
• Oh Yeah and consumer "confidence plunged, the wholesale inflation rate soared, the number of homes being foreclosed jumped, home prices fell sharply and a report predicts big increases in health care costs."

President George Washington

The General in the Continental Army that brought the Thirteen Colonies freedom and independence from England, First President of the United States, and farmer of hemp, wheat and tobacco, George Washington was born on this date in the year 1732. A courageous, bold, strong leader who, begrudgingly, took the reins of a brand new Nation that he did so much to create.

You can read Washington's speeches here. The Farewell Address is my favorite.

There are more experienced authors and historians from which you can read about the life, times and words of George Washington. I'll leave the research on this larger than life First President of the United States up to you.

Happy Birthday George Washington!

Washington On Dissent:
"If men are to be precluded from offering their sentiments on a matter which may involve the most serious and alarming consequences that can invite the consideration of mankind, reason is of no use to us; the freedom of speech may be taken away, and dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter."
From Washington's address to officers of the Army (15 March 1783)

On Parties, to which he was not affiliated:
"The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries, which result, gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of Public Liberty."
From Washington's Farewell Address

On the public:
"Promote, then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened."
From Washington's Farewell Address

Insults, Campaigns, and "Words"

After Barack Obama's 9th straight primary victory in Wisconsin, but before his 10th in Hawaii, Tom Buffenbarger, the president of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers had this to say about the Senator's supporters, me included, while introducing Hillary Clinton: “Give me a break! I've got news for all the latte-drinking, Prius- driving, Birkenstock-wearing, trust fund babies crowding in to hear him speak! This guy won't last a round against the Republican attack machine. He's a poet, not a fighter.” Insults like this one, aimed at me, those who wear Birkenstocks and the evil ones that drive hybrids, Piss Me Off and are driving me away! As is comparing supporters of Barack, like myself, to cultists. He is not the savior. He is not divine. His policy plans are not flawless. He IS, however, the first politician to inspire me. He IS the first living politician, whose "words" have brought me to tears. The inspiration and newly found pride I feel is real, and should not be ridiculed or insulted, especially by members of the same "blue team". Now I've made no bones about being an Obama supporter, even before he decided to run for President. Looking back, I've done so without much bile aimed at his opponent, except maybe her judgment on the "Iraq vote". And I have aimed none at her supporters. Why has Hillary Clinton and her supporters gone so negative? As she reinvents her campaign and gives speeches about how unimportant speeches are, I wonder if she is grasping at straws. Her campaign's, flimsy at best, plagiary charges against Obama's quoting past leaders and documents with the words "Just Words!" interspersed between them seems to say Yes. Can I legally type "yes"? Someone must have typed that before. But I digress...

Short of super delegates going against the popular Democratic Primary vote, I will vote for Hillary Clinton, if she comes back and becomes the nominee. Her campaign, however, is making that harder and harder for me to do. I'm not saying that she can't make distinctions between herself and Barack. I have no problem with the former first lady comparing her 7 years in the US Senate to his 3. Debating whether or not to talk to Our enemies is fine with me. Discussing the minute differences between their policy plans on health care or the environment and playing up her positives is what her campaign should, and used to, be about. I would love to see a debate about campaigning hard in every State in the Union versus campaigning in just the big states. Since Super Tuesday all we've heard from her campaign are Obama's negatives. But they're not sticking. Maybe it's because they are relatively small. Maybe it's because they have been accepted by his supporters, because their belief that he is the best candidate to change the way things work in Our Nation's capitol simply outweighs them. After all, does the more time you've spent in Washington without any change being felt, make you more or less likely to change things "on day one"? Maybe it's just that people are "sick and tired" of the "slash and burn" "politics of personal destruction" that the 19%-in-chief and rover were so effective at using against Us.

So as I try not to get too "fired up" about the "change" I "can believe in", I have to wonder at what point the Democratic establishment will say "Enough!" and work "with both sides of the aisle" to bring this "horse race" to a close. The new voters on the scene, inspired by Senator Barack Obama's "words", may "turn out" to be more important to the Party than the individual leaders/royalty within it.

In other news...

The spying on American citizens by Their government, without ever getting a warrant, is now legal according to the United States Senate. They voted to remove from the FISA law the requirement that a warrant, from a special FISA court, must be attained up to 72 hours AFTER the search/spying is executed. The Senate, it seems, has learned that this administration can be trusted to act in the best interest of the American citizenry without any checks or balances. Blank checks to bushco. are what has made this Country so great over the last six plus years. I say six plus instead of seven, because bush was not given a blank check until after the tragedy of September 11th. The bill also grants immunity to telecommunications companies that gave domestic spies private information their customers trusted them with. The companies say they were just following orders from the US Government. Senator Obama voted against immunity, mccain voted for it, and Clinton failed to vote. In "maybe the founding brothers can stop rolling over in their graves for a minute" news, the Senate did vote yes on a bill that "requires the intelligence community to abide by the same standards as articulated in the Army Field Manual and bans waterboarding."

Presidential candidate john mccain (you might have heard he was a prisoner of war) gave the OK to waterboarding prisoners, a "method" the United States of America prosecuted as a war crime in 1947. He voted against the bill banning it, because he thinks that the CIA should not be restricted to the Army Field Manual. Not to come down on the great pander bear, but he was definitely against waterboarding, formerly known as "water torture", before he was for it. Then again he was against bushco.'s tax cuts for the rich, before he was for them. He was against rover, before he was for him. He was against the christian right, or in his words the "agents of intolerance", before he was for them. The flip flops by the "straight talk maverick" seem to have assured the flip flopper-in-chief that his policies will get a third term if his former adversary is in charge. But enough about the imminent runner up, let's get back to other news.

Legalize drugs... for sports stars (and everybody else for that matter). Not that I care too much about overpaid pitchers shooting up performance enhancers, like many of my musical heroes did. I just think there may be more important things for the US Congress to be holding hearings on, like maybe holding someone accountable for the mess that Our Country's in. Or how about hearings on the "buried by the Army" Unclassified report by the RAND Corp. that showed how Bad bushco.'s planning for the war in Iraq was.

And finally in Good News, the Writers' Strike is over. Members of the Writers' Guild of America voted to agree to the terms of a "three-year contract, granting annual pay raises of 3%-3.5% and historic gains in residuals for new-media content" with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers. Finally, I can watch Conan again, without feeling guilty about it. The writers' solidarity, and the solidarity shown by their acting comrades, who refused to act without them or attend events like the Oscars, worked! I'm Proud to be a Union Man!

Possible topics for next time, if I can stop talking about the Democratic primary:

• Why can't oil companies, making the largest profits in US business history, lower gas prices?
• How do former war of choice architects, propagandists, and disgraced world bank presidents still get lucrative work in and out of Our government?
• Where in the world is osama bin laden?

I swear I didn't write this speech.

While Candidate Clinton changes her tactics from front runner/imminent nominee to calling herself the "underdog" and chooses the guilliani tactic of "I can't win there, so it doesn't matter. I'll pick a primary down the road", this is the text of what Candidate Obama had to say in Madison, Wisconsin:

Today, the change we seek swept through the Chesapeake and over the Potomac.

We won the state of Maryland. We won the Commonwealth of Virginia. And though we won in Washington D.C., this movement won’t stop until there’s change in Washington. And tonight, we’re on our way.

But we know how much farther we have to go.

We know it takes more than one night – or even one election – to overcome decades of money and the influence; bitter partisanship and petty bickering that’s shut you out, let you down and told you to settle.

We know our road will not be easy.

But we also know that at this moment the cynics can no longer say our hope is false.

We have now won east and west, north and south, and across the heartland of this country we love. We have given young people a reason to believe, and brought folks back to the polls who want to believe again. And we are bringing together Democrats and Independents and Republicans; blacks and whites; Latinos and Asians; small states and big states; Red States and Blue States into a United States of America.

This is the new American majority. This is what change looks like when it happens from the bottom up. And in this election, your voices will be heard.

Because at a time when so many people are struggling to keep up with soaring costs in a sluggish economy, we know that the status quo in Washington just won’t do. Not this time. Not this year. We can’t keep playing the same Washington game with the same Washington players and expect a different result – because it’s a game that ordinary Americans are losing.

It’s a game where lobbyists write check after check and Exxon turns record profits, while you pay the price at the pump, and our planet is put at risk. That’s what happens when lobbyists set the agenda, and that’s why they won’t drown out your voices anymore when I am President of the United States of America

It’s a game where trade deals like NAFTA ship jobs overseas and force parents to compete with their teenagers to work for minimum wage at Wal-Mart. That’s what happens when the American worker doesn’t have a voice at the negotiating table, when leaders change their positions on trade with the politics of the moment, and that’s why we need a President who will listen to Main Street – not just Wall Street; a President who will stand with workers not just when it’s easy, but when it’s hard.

It’s a game where Democrats and Republicans fail to come together year after year after year, while another mother goes without health care for her sick child. That’s why we have to put an end to the division and distraction in Washington, so that we can unite this nation around a common purpose, a higher purpose.

It’s a game where the only way for Democrats to look tough on national security is by talking, and acting and voting like Bush-McCain Republicans, while our troops are sent to fight tour after tour of duty in a war that should’ve never been authorized and should’ve never been waged. That’s what happens when we use 9/11 to scare up votes, and that’s why we need to do more than end a war – we need to end the mindset that got us into war.

That’s the choice in this primary. It’s about whether we choose to play the game, or whether we choose to end it; it’s change that polls well, or change we can believe in; it’s the past versus the future. And when I’m the Democratic nominee for President – that will be the choice in November.

John McCain is an American hero. We honor his service to our nation. But his priorities don’t address the real problems of the American people, because they are bound to the failed policies of the past.

George Bush won’t be on the ballot this November, but his war and his tax cuts for the wealthy will.

When I am the nominee, I will offer a clear choice. John McCain won’t be able to say that I ever supported this war in Iraq, because I opposed it from the beginning. Senator McCain said the other day that we might be mired for a hundred years in Iraq, which is reason enough to not give him four years in the White House.

If we had chosen a different path, the right path, we could have finished the job in Afghanistan, and put more resources into the fight against bin Laden; and instead of spending hundreds of billions of dollars in Baghdad, we could have put that money into our schools and hospitals, our road and bridges – and that’s what the American people need us to do right now.

And I admired Senator McCain when he stood up and said that it offended his “conscience” to support the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy in a time of war; that he couldn’t support a tax cut where “so many of the benefits go to the most fortunate.” But somewhere along the road to the Republican nomination, the Straight Talk Express lost its wheels, because now he’s all for them.

Well I’m not. We can’t keep spending money that we don’t have in a war that we shouldn’t have fought. We can’t keep mortgaging our children’s future on a mountain of debt. We can’t keep driving a wider and wider gap between the few who are rich and the rest who struggle to keep pace. It’s time to turn the page.

We need a new direction in this country. Everywhere I go, I meet Americans who can’t wait another day for change. They’re not just showing up to hear a speech – they need to know that politics can make a difference in their lives, that it’s not too late to reclaim the American Dream.

It’s a dream shared in big cities and small towns; across races, regions and religions – that if you work hard, you can support a family; that if you get sick, there will be health care you can afford; that you can retire with the dignity and security and respect that you have earned; that your kids can get a good education, and young people can go to college even if they’re not rich. That is our common hope. That is the American Dream.

It’s the dream of the father who goes to work before dawn and lies awake at night wondering how he’s going to pay the bills. He needs us to restore fairness to our economy by putting a tax cut into the pockets of working people, and seniors, and struggling homeowners.

It’s the dream of the woman who told me she works the night shift after a full day of college and still can’t afford health care for a sister who’s ill. She needs us to finally come together to make health care affordable and available for every American.

It’s the dream of the senior I met who lost his pension when the company he gave his life to went bankrupt. He doesn’t need bankruptcy laws that protect banks and big lenders. He needs us to protect pensions, not CEO bonuses; and to do what it takes to make sure that the American people can count on Social Security today, tomorrow and forever.

It’s the dream of the teacher who works at Dunkin Donuts after school just to make ends meet. She needs better pay, and more support, and the freedom to do more than just teach to the test. And if her students want to go on to college, they shouldn’t fear decades of debt. That’s why I’ll make college affordable with an annual $4,000 tax credit if you’re willing to do community service, or national service. We will invest in you, but we’ll ask you to invest in your country.

That is our calling in this campaign. To reaffirm that fundamental belief – I am my brother’s keeper, I am my sister’s keeper – that makes us one people, and one nation. It’s time to stand up and reach for what’s possible, because together, people who love their country can change it.

Now when I start talking like this, some folks tell me that I’ve got my head in the clouds. That I need a reality check. That we’re still offering false hope. But my own story tells me that in the United States of America, there has never been anything false about hope.

I should not be here today. I was not born into money or status. I was born to a teenage mom in Hawaii, and my dad left us when I was two. But my family gave me love, they gave me education, and most of all they gave me hope – hope that in America, no dream is beyond our grasp if we reach for it, and fight for it, and work for it.

Because hope is not blind optimism. I know how hard it will be to make these changes. I know this because I fought on the streets of Chicago as a community organizer to bring jobs to the jobless in the shadow of a shuttered steel plant. I’ve fought in the courts as a civil rights lawyer to make sure people weren’t denied their rights because of what they looked like or where they came from. I’ve fought in the legislature to take power away from lobbyists. I’ve won some of those fights, but I’ve lost some of them too. I’ve seen good legislation die because good intentions weren’t backed by a mandate for change.

The politics of hope does not mean hoping things come easy. Because nothing worthwhile in this country has ever happened unless somebody, somewhere stood up when it was hard; stood up when they were told – no you can’t, and said yes we can.

And where better to affirm our ideals than here in Wisconsin, where a century ago the progressive movement was born. It was rooted in the principle that the voices of the people can speak louder than special interests; that citizens can be connected to their government and to one another; and that all of us share a common destiny, an American Dream.

Yes we can reclaim that dream.

Yes we can heal this nation.

The voices of the American people have carried us a great distance on this improbable journey, but we have much further to go. Now we carry our message to farms and factories across this state, and to the cities and small towns of Ohio, to the open plains deep in the heart of Texas, and all the way to Democratic National Convention in Denver; it’s the same message we had when we were up, and when were down; that out of many, we are one; that our destiny will not be written for us, but by us; and that we can cast off our doubts and fears and cynicism because our dream will not be deferred; our future will not be denied; and our time for change has come.

President Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln once said "It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt." Today , on what would be his 199th birthday, I agree. So instead of giving you some "He was a great man. The civil war was Our bloodiest war, and the great emancipator subverted freedoms and liberties during it." memorial web log, I leave you instead with some of his own words:

Some are quite timely:
"I do not mean to say that this government is charged with the duty of redressing or preventing all the wrongs in the world; but I do think that it is charged with the duty of preventing and redressing all wrongs which are wrongs to itself."
--September 17, 1859 Speech at Cincinnati, Ohio

"What is conservatism? Is it not adherence to the old and tried, against the new and untried?" Lincoln's Cooper Institute Address, February 27, 1860.

"I believe it is an established maxim in morals that he who makes an assertion without knowing whether it is true or false, is guilty of falsehood; and the accidental truth of the assertion, does not justify or excuse him. "
Letter to Allen N Ford (11 August 1846)

Some downright prescient:
“These capitalists generally act harmoniously and in concert, to fleece the people”

""Allow the President to invade a neighboring nation whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion, and you allow him to do so whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such purpose, and you allow him to make war at pleasure. Study to see if you can fix any limit to his power in this respect, after having given him so much as you propose. If to-day he should choose to say he thinks it necessary to invade Canada to prevent the British from invading us, how could you stop him? You may say to him, — "I see no probability of the British invading us"; but he will say to you, "Be silent: I see it, if you don't."
The provision of the Constitution giving the war making power to Congress was dictated, as I understand it, by the following reasons: Kings had always been involving and impoverishing their people in wars, pretending generally, if not always, that the good of the people was the object. This our convention understood to be the most oppressive of all kingly oppressions, and they resolved to so frame the Constitution that no one man should hold the power of bringing this oppression upon us. But your view destroys the whole matter, and places our President where kings have always stood."
Letter, while US Congressman, to his friend and law-partner William H. Herndon, opposing the Mexican-American War (15 February 1848)

"I am not a Know-Nothing. That is certain. How could I be? How can any one who abhors the oppression of negroes, be in favor of degrading classes of white people? Our progress in degeneracy appears to me to be pretty rapid. As a nation, we begin by declaring that "all men are created equal." We now practically read it "all men are created equal, except negroes." When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read "all men are created equal, except negroes, and foreigners, and catholics." When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretence of loving liberty-to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocracy."
On the Know-Nothing Party (anti-immigrant party)
Letter to Joshua F. Speed on August 24, 1855

Some remind Us what is great about this Country:
"What constitutes the bulwark of our own liberty and independence? It is not our frowning battlements, our bristling sea coasts, the guns of our war steamers, or the strength of our gallant and disciplined army. These are not the reliance against the resumption of tyranny in our fair land. All of them may be turned against our liberties, without making us stronger or weaker for the struggle. Our reliance is in the love of liberty which God has planted in our bosoms. Our defense is the preservation of the spirit which prizes liberty as the heritage of all men, in all lands, every where. "
From a speech at Edwardsville, Illinois on September 11, 1858

"This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or exercise their revolutionary right to overthrow it. "

And then there's the downright "Hope Mongering"
"My dream is of a place and a time where America will once again be seen as the last best hope of earth. "

Happy Birthday President Lincoln! You should have your own holiday!

Just a quick note:
Abraham Lincoln's only government "experience" before becoming President was eight years in the Illinois State Legislature and One term (two years) as a member of the US House of Representatives.

A Tie goes to the Winner.

So all the results from Super Tuesday are still not in, but we do know that Senator Barack Obama won 13 States to Senator Clinton's 9. That is a feat that no one would have predicted a month or even two weeks ago. Obama surprised pundits with wins, all be them narrow, in Connecticut and Missouri. He won in states that previously had Clinton ahead. He won two out the three of yesterday's Southern Primaries. That, and his Big victory over Clinton and Edwards in SC, should quell the "A black man can't win in the South" argument. He also was surprisingly close in states that only a week or two ago had him behind by more than thirty percentage points. Clinton did win big states, like California and Massachusetts, but by less than expected. The State to which she owes her "experience" as Senator, New York, was won by 17%. Obama won his Senatorial home state of Illinois, where he lived before becoming Senator, by 31%. The delegates, which are distributed proportionally by Congressional District, have yet to be fully tabulated. Both sides have claimed a slight delegate lead from Super Tuesday. Super delegates, which are ranking party officials who don't have to vote along with the regular delegates, currently are swaying (stealing?) it for the establishment favored Clinton. Whatever the actual count, this contest is further from over than it was before Super Tuesday.

A month ago, Hillary Clinton was the presumptive, if not imminent, Democratic nominee, who would clinch by, or on, Super Tuesday. That myth is over, and I think the Democratic Party is better for it. Unlike some, I think it's a good thing for these two to continue talking to the Country, taking up the headlines, and honing their points until the convention. And the fact that people are looking at these two candidates and saying they would happily vote for either one of them. Hell, just the fact that many of us are saying We are voting For someone, instead of against, is a pretty damn pleasant change of pace, I think. One does have to wonder if the Clinton campaign is starting to fatigue a little. In January, Obama outraised Clinton $32 Million to $10 million. And Clinton's coughing fit end to an interview on Tuesday doesn't bode well for the physical toll the campaign is taking. Don't get me wrong. She is a Strong and Viable candidate for president, not to mention a Fierce competitor. She is in no way out of this. But it's a dead heat, and she's been in the lead up until now. Senator Obama has the momentum and has more resources on hand. AmericaBlog called last night "Barack's big night". DailyKos called it a "Huge night for Obama". But once again I find myself agreeing with the Rude One. "In Brief: Obama won"

I'll leave you with some interesting number crunching from Time :
Here are the numbers just for the 19 states where both parties had elections yesterday
Obama/Clinton voters: 14,460,149
McCain/Romney/Huckabee voters: 8,367,694

TOTAL DEMOCRATIC VOTES CAST
Clinton: 50.2% (7,347,971)
Obama: 49.8% (7,294,851)

Happy Super Fat Tuesday!

We've had two days to recover from the Greatest Upset in NFL, and possibly US sports history, last Sunday, as the New Jersey Giants won the Superbowl!!!! Their Parade is going on in New York, as are the Mardi Gras parades in New Orleans. The Giants ticker tape celebration culminates at Giants Stadium, where on Monday Senator Barack Obama was joined on stage by Senator Teddy Kennedy and Robert DeNiro. Bobby D?!?!?! That's almost as big a surprise as the Grateful Dead, sans Jerry of course, reuniting for Obama in San Francisco yesterday. Well, anyway...

Today is Super Tuesday. 24 States, including the Great State of New Jersey, are holding their primaries today. It's a tight race on the Democratic side with Senator Obama, who is in the delegate lead right now, pulling up to tie with Senator Clinton in National polls, not to mention in races like California and New Jersey where Clinton used to be up by double digits.

One important note: In New Jersey, citizens who are not affiliated with a party or are registered as INDEPENDENT CAN VOTE, if they declare which party they will be voting for in the primary.

In case you hadn't guessed by now, I voted for Senator Barack Obama. In addition to being amazingly intelligent and writing the best political book I've read that wasn't written by a founding father, he was against this War in Iraq before it started and before it was popular for politicians to do so.

Another, bigger, reason for voting for Obama was that he inspires people to believe that their Country can be great and that they are essential to making it great. The proof of this shows in the youth, who lack luster candidates always blame for not coming out. They are coming out for Barack.

One another thing, which unfortunately has the feel of "who you would like to have a beer with", is that I can see Barack Obama sitting at a table and talking with anyone, friend or foe, ally or enemy, yes man or nay sayer. I do not see Senator Clinton in that same light. She strikes me as much more of "My way or the Highway" type of person. And we've all seen how that attitude works out.

Well that's my two cents. Now go out and vote!