Give form to CHANGE. Give reason for HOPE
I begin again by saying Obama has my vote.
As a Chicagoan I was an early adaptor to the Obama presidential campaign and I cannot think of a nationally known politician who I would rather see as the next president. Still, I am not the first to note that Obama’s promise of Change and Hope for a more perfect Union has been largely generic.
His two major decisions last week left me disappointed. The “cave” on telecom immunity is the more serious of the two but his apparent reversal on his promise to use public financing for his campaign is also problematical.
There are sound arguments for the abandonment of public campaign financing but Obama has not made them clearly enough. He has allowed the Repuli-pundits to paint him as an opportunistic and shady politician, and in the absence of candor and clarity those of us who support him can only mumble our compromised acceptance. “Well, nobody’s perfect. Politics ain’t cornhole.”*
Some argue that it is critical that the Democrats win and that need justifies whatever maneuvers the campaign employs. Push comes to shove, I agree. But I also believe, perhaps naively, that [we] were and are winning. I believe (sports metaphor. sorry) Obama will win by throwing hard and fast right down the middle. Barack’s strength is in playing it straight and he’s going to get into trouble with curveballs and knucklers.
The telecom immunity clause in the FISA bill is far more troubling. The issue here transcends electoral politics and goes to the heart of the Constitution’s providence for sovereign individuality. I have been baffled all week as to why, as the tide of hope and change is rising, Obama decided to ignore one of the core components of the protection of rights in a free democracy and give de facto permission to conduct illegal spying.
Dems Who Flipped On FISA Immunity See More Telecom Cash
By Chris Frates
Jun 24, 2008
(The Politico) House Democrats who flipped their votes to support retroactive immunity for telecom companies in last week’s FISA bill took thousands of dollars more from phone companies than Democrats who consistently voted against legislation with an immunity provision, according to an analysis by MAPLight.org.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/06/24/politics/politico/thecrypt/main4206495.shtml
The scales fall from my Obamacized eyes. It’s the money, stupid.
The core of Obama’s campaign, the real fuel, the reason he will win is his uncanny gift to move people to believe that there is good among us and change is possible. He has asked us to become the change that we wish to see.
Barak, back at ya. CHANGE.
We need to provide the campaign with the actual forms of change that we want to see. The campaign seems content to float an amorphous, warm ball of hope out above the crowd without distributing a single brass tack with which we might build the better America we want.
So here’s a start. Corporations cannot buy legislation. Check how your representative votes on FISA and if he or she is among the 94 Democrats who received money from the telecoms and then reversed their position on immunity, get busy in your district and throw their asses out. Throw them out along with the Republicans they are sleeping with. That would be CHANGE
*Here in Illinois it has long been said, “Politics ain’t beanbag”. A variation of “beanbag” has now become very popular in these parts at picnics and parties. The game consists of tossing beanbags into a small round hole cut into a plywood rectangle. This variation is called “Cornhole”. The etymology of the name is rarely discussed.
As a Chicagoan I was an early adaptor to the Obama presidential campaign and I cannot think of a nationally known politician who I would rather see as the next president. Still, I am not the first to note that Obama’s promise of Change and Hope for a more perfect Union has been largely generic.
His two major decisions last week left me disappointed. The “cave” on telecom immunity is the more serious of the two but his apparent reversal on his promise to use public financing for his campaign is also problematical.
There are sound arguments for the abandonment of public campaign financing but Obama has not made them clearly enough. He has allowed the Repuli-pundits to paint him as an opportunistic and shady politician, and in the absence of candor and clarity those of us who support him can only mumble our compromised acceptance. “Well, nobody’s perfect. Politics ain’t cornhole.”*
Some argue that it is critical that the Democrats win and that need justifies whatever maneuvers the campaign employs. Push comes to shove, I agree. But I also believe, perhaps naively, that [we] were and are winning. I believe (sports metaphor. sorry) Obama will win by throwing hard and fast right down the middle. Barack’s strength is in playing it straight and he’s going to get into trouble with curveballs and knucklers.
The telecom immunity clause in the FISA bill is far more troubling. The issue here transcends electoral politics and goes to the heart of the Constitution’s providence for sovereign individuality. I have been baffled all week as to why, as the tide of hope and change is rising, Obama decided to ignore one of the core components of the protection of rights in a free democracy and give de facto permission to conduct illegal spying.
Dems Who Flipped On FISA Immunity See More Telecom Cash
By Chris Frates
Jun 24, 2008
(The Politico) House Democrats who flipped their votes to support retroactive immunity for telecom companies in last week’s FISA bill took thousands of dollars more from phone companies than Democrats who consistently voted against legislation with an immunity provision, according to an analysis by MAPLight.org.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/06/24/politics/politico/thecrypt/main4206495.shtml
The scales fall from my Obamacized eyes. It’s the money, stupid.
The core of Obama’s campaign, the real fuel, the reason he will win is his uncanny gift to move people to believe that there is good among us and change is possible. He has asked us to become the change that we wish to see.
Barak, back at ya. CHANGE.
We need to provide the campaign with the actual forms of change that we want to see. The campaign seems content to float an amorphous, warm ball of hope out above the crowd without distributing a single brass tack with which we might build the better America we want.
So here’s a start. Corporations cannot buy legislation. Check how your representative votes on FISA and if he or she is among the 94 Democrats who received money from the telecoms and then reversed their position on immunity, get busy in your district and throw their asses out. Throw them out along with the Republicans they are sleeping with. That would be CHANGE
*Here in Illinois it has long been said, “Politics ain’t beanbag”. A variation of “beanbag” has now become very popular in these parts at picnics and parties. The game consists of tossing beanbags into a small round hole cut into a plywood rectangle. This variation is called “Cornhole”. The etymology of the name is rarely discussed.
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