It was a bright sunny Tuesday morning, I had taken the week off from work because we were bringing the newborn SugarPlum home for the first time. My wife had gone into the office in downtown Atlanta to grab a few things and then were going to get our daughter at noon.
plezWorld saw something on the television about about a plane flying into the World Trade Center in NYC and decided to turn to CNN and see what was going on. I turned on the TV just in time to see the second plane slam into the tower... in disbelief! The imagery of the moment, no, that entire day will forever be etched in my memory.
The most joyous day of my life - bringing home my baby girl - merged with the most horrific day in US history. I remember holding her in my arms that afternoon and into the night wondering what had become of the world, when someone would plot and plan such a diabolical attack. And I remember fighting back the tears while thinking of what a hateful world we had brought my daughter into... I could only pray she would be capable of growing up devoid of the cynicism and hate this day brought us.
It is now a decade later, two wars have run their course, we have a Black President, bin Laden is dead... and my innocent little girl is a pre-teen. She is pretty as a button, lovable, and kind. But we have raised her in a changed world, where every motive is suspect, our freedoms have been abridged, our economy has tanked, and political vitriol has damn near crippled President Obama. This post-9/11 world is vastly different than the one I grew up in. I can only hope we can use this tenth anniversary of 9/11 to put this behind us and move on to a kinder, more understanding America.
Former Clinton Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder is President-elect Barack Obama's choice for the position of attorney general, according to two prominent Democrats involved in transition matters. Holder, who is still being vetted, has indicated he will accept the job if it is offered, the sources said.
If confirmed, Holder would be the first African-American to lead the Justice Department.
Holder, 57, is a graduate of Columbia University Law School and a former federal prosecutor, he is currently a partner at the Washington law firm of Covington & Burling. Holder first joined the Justice Department in the administration of President Jimmy Carter, assigned to the newly formed Public Integrity Section in 1976 straight out of Columbia University Law School. President Ronald Reagan nominated him to be an associate judge at the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, where he served for five years. He left that post to become the first African-American U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, chosen by President Bill Clinton. He served in that position until Clinton picked him to become deputy attorney general, the first African American to hold that position as well. He co-chaired President-elect Obama's vice presidential selection process.
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This pick by Obama does not come with some "Clinton baggage." Commodities trader Marc Rich fled to Switzerland in 1983 while being prosecuted on tax evasion charges and allegations of illegal oil dealings with Iran. Holder advised President Clinton to issue a pardon for commodities trader Marc Rich just before he left office in 2001. Critics contended that Clinton issued the pardon because Rich's former wife had made substantial donations to the Democratic Party and Clinton's library.
Holder testified later before a Republican-controlled Congress and acknowledged if he had it to do over again, he would have handled it differently. A Democratic source has said he was confident a flap over Clinton's pardon of Rich would not be a major hurdle for Holder with a Democratic Congress.
plez sez: BARACK OBAMA keeps stepping up and keeps knocking 'em outta the park.
at first blush, the Holder nomination comes off as another in a growing list of clinton administration re-treads (read: hillary as secretary of state). but as one looks alittle deeper into the choice, you see a solid choice of a knowledgeable washington insider who'll be able to affect the change that Obama campaigned on. holder will have his job cut out for him to undo much of what the bush administration has put into effect (i.e. restoration of many of our civil liberties that were snatched away after 9/11 AND redirect justice department efforts to more effective community policing with more cops in the nation's neighborhoods).
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to my way of thinking, holder being the first Black attorney general is of little consequence... after the OBAMA presidency. it is my hope that in a few years, Black "firsts" will become passe' OR a thing of the past (been there, done that!).
The election cycle is not completed in Georgia. To win an election in these parts, you need to get 50 percent plus one vote. Since the incumbent Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss fell short on November 4th, he's going against his Democratic rival, Jim Martin, in a runoff election on December 2nd.
This race is garnering national attention, because this is one of three US Senate races that have not been resolved, and if Jim Martin wins, the Democrats will be one seat closer to the magical 60 Senators necessary for a filibuster-proof Senate. This is also interesting since Georgia "used to be" a red state, with Republican governor and two Republican senators. The state, particularly in the metro Atlanta area, turned slightly more blue during the general election with President-elect Barack Obama losing the state by only 4 percent.
Both parties are pulling out the big guns for this runoff:
Sen. John McCain was in Georgia last week stumping for Chambliss
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who won Georgia’s GOP presidential primary in February, joined about 2,000 people Sunday afternoon at a rally for Chambliss
President Bill Clinton will be in Atlanta on Wednesday afternoon for Martin at Clark Atlanta University
There are rumors that Gov. Sarah Palin may come to Georgia for Chambliss
The Obama campaign infrastructure has revved back up to support Martin, by making phone calls, sending e-mail messages, and encouraging early voting
Donna Brazile, campaign director for Vice President Al Gore's run in 2000 plans to come to Georgia to advise the Martin campaign
And some circles are holding out hope that President-elect Barack Obama may come down here to seal the deal a few days before the election
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Early voting started on Monday, November 17th and runs through the Wednesday (November 26th) before the election. No voting on Thanksgiving.
With the SugarPlum in tow, plezWorld voted Monday afternoon in DeKalb County. There wasn't a long wait (no more than 5 minutes), but there was an unanticipated flurry of activity in the elections office for it to be 2 weeks before a runoff election. Both campaigns are trying to get out the vote and their efforts appear to be working. Don't look for 2 or 3 hours waits, but in some parts of the state, there may be lines as the election date draws closer.
Advance Voting Locations in Metro Atlanta
Clayton County
Early voting 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Nov. 24- 26 at six locations. Voters can request an absentee ballot from their county registrar’s office through the close of business on Nov. 26. 770-477-3372.
Cobb County
8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday at the Board of Elections & Registration at 736 Whitlock Ave., west of the Marietta Square. Nov. 24-26, voters can go to five additional locations. 770-528-1000.
DeKalb County
8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday at the main elections office at 4380 Memorial Drive. No satellite locations will be open during early voting. 404-298-4020.
Fulton County
8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday at: Fulton County Government Center (downtown), 141 Pryor St.; North Service Center, 7741 Roswell Road; and South Service Center, 5600 Stonewall Tell Road. Voting will continue at these locations 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Nov. 24-26. 404-730-4000.
Gwinnett County
9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday at the main elections office at 455 Grayson Highway, Lawrenceville. There will be no satellite early voting locations. 678-226-7210.
What you’ll need
Under the state’s Voter ID law, voters need one of six forms of photo ID:
Any valid state or federal government-issued photo ID, including the free Voter ID Card issued by your county registrar’s office or the Georgia Department of Driver Services.
A Georgia driver’s license, even if expired.
Valid employee photo ID from any branch, department, agency or entity of the U.S. government, Georgia, or any county, municipality, board, authority or other entity of the state. This includes current photo ID from a public Georgia high school or college.
Effective Sunday, President-elect Barack Obama - the junior Senator from Illinois - will relinquish his seat. Under state law, Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich will name Obama's replacement for the remaining two years of his term. Blagojevich has said he expects to make a decision by year's end. Obama, elected in 2004, is currently the only black senator.
Potential candidates to replace Obama include Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., Rep. Jan Schakowsky, Illinois Senate President Emil Jones, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, and Tammy Duckworth, a disabled Iraq war veteran and currently the Illinois veteran affairs director.
In a statement, Obama said:
"My four-year term was one of the highest honors and privileges of my life and the people of Illinois will stay with me as I leave the Senate to begin the hard task of fulfilling the simple hopes and common dreams of all Americans as our nation's next president."
Vice President-elect Joe Biden also is expected to resign his seat representing Delaware at some point between now and the Jan. 20 inauguration. Democratic Gov. Ruth Ann Minner presumably would pick the successor. Several Democrats have said Biden's son, Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, is interested in succeeding his father in the Senate. He is on a yearlong deployment to Iraq with his National Guard unit. As a result, Democrats have discussed a plan under which an interim successor would be named and would step aside in 2010 so the younger Biden could run in a special election to fill out the term.
As a result of these resignations, the lame-duck session of Congress will meet without Obama or Biden.
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In other news, despite his felony conviction for filing false U.S. Senate financial disclosure forms, Republican Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska insisted he was innocent, did not to step down, and went ahead to run for his seventh term as Senator. On election night, he was ahead. But as absentee and provisional ballots have been counted, he has fallen behind his Democratic contender, Anchorage mayor Mark Begich by close to 1,000 votes (as of November 13).
With nearly two-thirds of the absentee votes now tallied, Begich has taken the lead. An estimated 40,000 ballots have yet to be counted – a majority of them from the area of the state that includes Anchorage, according to state elections officials.
Read the articles about the Alaska Senate race here and here and here.
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plez sez: the news cycle slows to a crawl in anticipation of the OBAMA inauguration... but you gotta wonder what was going on in the minds of those alaskans who voted for a convicted felon to be their senator.
one can only thank GOD that those people's governor isn't preparing to go to washington as vice-president!
After the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1965 and integration in the southern states of the United States began to take hold via federal fiat, the Republican hatched a plan gain control of the White House (and keep it). Generally attributed to Richard Nixon's run in 1968, the Southern Strategy was a Republican ploy to push newly enfranchised Blacks to the Democratic party while enticing conservative Democratic whites to join the Republican Party, thus creating a solid cultural bloc that would elect four presidents (Nixon, Reagan, Bush 41, and Bush 43) over the next 40 years. During that stretch, only 2 Democratic presidents - both Southerners (Carter from Georgia and Clinton from Arkansas) - would gain the White House.
In a 1970 New York Times article, Nixon strategist Kevin Phillips said:
From now on, the Republicans are never going to get more than 10 to 20 percent of the Negro vote and they don't need any more than that... but Republicans would be shortsighted if they weakened enforcement of the Voting Rights Act. The more Negroes who register as Democrats in the South, the sooner the Negrophobe whites will quit the Democrats and become Republicans. That's where the votes are. Without that prodding from the blacks, the whites will backslide into their old comfortable arrangement with the local Democrats.
Even as the approach was applied nationally, until the early 1960's, the Southern US was home to a majority of Black Americans. "States' rights" and cultural issues such as gay marriage (bans were on ballot of 3 states in 2008), abortion, gun ownership, and religion were hot button wedge issues that were adopted into the platform of the Republicans. By playing on ignorance and fears of Black power exacerbated white flight from urban centers to growing suburbs and exurbs, and also fueled white flight from the Democratic Party, which was the predominant party in the South until the mid-1960's.
The candidacy of Barack Obama hinged on his running not as a Black candidate, but as just a candidate for President. If you notice, his campaign went to great lengths to keep the Civil Rights icons (Jackson, Young, Lewis, etc.) at arm's length, while securing votes in states that had near negligible Black populations (Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, New Hampshire, etc.). Obama ran a strong southern campaign during the primaries, mopping up Hillary Clinton in every southern state except Arkansas... but then again, the Democratic Party is heavily Black in the south. He didn't do quite as well against Clinton in areas with similar southern demographics in the north (Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky, etc.).
Along the road to winning the Democratic primary, the Obama campaign registered hundreds of thousands of new voters, new progressive voters: young, educated, upwardly mobile. These new voters would become a new base as he pushed the line of battleground states into the south! The new voters in Virginia and North Carolina tilted those states blue (Virginia had not gone for a Democrat since LBJ in 1964). Newly registered voters almost turned red state Georgia blue (Obama lost the state by only 4 percentage points) and the US Senate seat was thrown into a runoff, something that was unheard of only four years ago.
Two weeks before the election, the American Prospect uses Obama in North Carolina as an example that the southern strategy is dead:
In less than two weeks, we may well see the election in which the Southern Strategy -- the strategic doctrine that has underpinned the rise of the Republican Party over the past four decades -- dies an inglorious death. Since 1968, Republicans have exploited the racial and cultural resentments of Southern whites brilliantly. Their control of the White House for 24 of the last 40 years, and of Congress from 1994 through 2006, was rooted in the overwhelming support they won from Southern whites.
The strategy was premised on the South's distinct identity -- that it was home to a more rural, less educated, more militaristic, more churchgoing, less tolerant, more racist white population than the nation's other regions. It has worked like a charm in areas where Southern backwardness has been immutable. The problem for the GOP is that modernity, in the form of internal development, greater racial diversity, and migration from -- oh, the horror -- the North, has finally begun to alter the political identity of key Southern states.
Clearly, that's what has happened to Virginia, in which the southward creep of an increasingly cosmopolitan Washington, D.C. into the Virginia burbs (both sub- and ex-) has altered the state's racial and cultural make-up. Since 2000, Republicans have fared well in what Sarah Palin termed the "real Virginia," only to see their numbers dwarfed by the successively bigger margins racked up by such Democrats as Mark Warner, Tim Kaine, and Jim Webb in the northern part of the state.
The thought of Virginia, which has not gone Democratic in a presidential election since 1964, casting its electoral votes for Barack Obama is mind-boggling enough. But North Carolina? Could a black presidential candidate carry a southern state that hasn't had a northern metropolis disrupt its demographics? Could a relatively unknown Democratic senate candidate unseat a nationally known Republican incumbent?
By looking at the Electoral Shift Map (as it appears in the New York Times), one can see that the entire country, save a swath of counties that stretches down the spine of the Appalachian Mountains into Arkansas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma, has shifted (and voted) to the left (blue). The red portions of the map tells the story of the part of the country that was left behind during the boom of the 1990's, is less racially diverse, less sophisticated, and far less educated than the blue regions to the north and east (the red parts of Georgia are in the largely white North Georgia mountains and the southern plain).
The New York Times appears to agree that the area of the south that is still a part of the Southern Strategy appears to be shrinking before it dies on the vine. Some parts of the south were more fervently red for John McCain than they were for Bush back in 2004, but one would have to travel into the deepest hollows of the traditional south to find them... that would be Palin Country! The story goes down to Vernon, Alabama which sits on the Alabama-Mississippi border where they don't cotton to uppity-Negroes with funny sounding names and Muslim sounding middle names. These people don't think too highly of Ivy League graduates and have very clear ideas about why certain folk should stay in their place!
Most of these people don't like Abraham Lincoln, think they got a relative who died fighting for the Lost Cause back in '65 (1865, that is), and still think that Martin Luther King, Jr. was nothing more than a rabble rouser who got what was coming to him.
The state of affairs in the Deep South and how Virginia and North Carolina turned blue, as reported by the New York Times:
VERNON, Ala. — Fear of the politician with the unusual name and look did not end with last Tuesday’s vote in this rural red swatch where buck heads and rifles hang on the wall. This corner of the Deep South still resonates with negative feelings about the race of President-elect Barack Obama.
What may have ended on Election Day, though, is the centrality of the South to national politics. By voting so emphatically for Senator John McCain over Mr. Obama — supporting him in some areas in even greater numbers than they did President Bush — voters from Texas to South Carolina and Kentucky may have marginalized their region for some time to come, political experts say.
The region’s absence from Mr. Obama’s winning formula means it “is becoming distinctly less important,” said Wayne Parent, a political scientist at Louisiana State University. “The South has moved from being the center of the political universe to being an outside player in presidential politics.”
One reason for that is that the South is no longer a solid voting bloc. Along the Atlantic Coast, parts of the “suburban South,” notably Virginia and North Carolina, made history last week in breaking from their Confederate past and supporting Mr. Obama. Those states have experienced an influx of better educated and more prosperous voters in recent years, pointing them in a different political direction than states farther west, like Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi, and Appalachian sections of Kentucky and Tennessee.
Southern counties that voted more heavily Republican this year than in 2004 tended to be poorer, less educated and whiter, a statistical analysis by The New York Times shows. Mr. Obama won in only 44 counties in the Appalachian belt, a stretch of 410 counties that runs from New York to Mississippi. Many of those counties, rural and isolated, have been less exposed to the diversity, educational achievement and economic progress experienced by more prosperous areas.
The increased turnout in the South’s so-called Black Belt, or old plantation-country counties, was visible in the results, but it generally could not make up for the solid white support for Mr. McCain. Alabama, for example, experienced a heavy black turnout and voted slightly more Democratic than in 2004, but the state over all gave 60 percent of its vote to Mr. McCain. (Arkansas, however, doubled the margin of victory it gave to the Republican over 2004.)
Less than a third of Southern whites voted for Mr. Obama, compared with 43 percent of whites nationally. By leaving the mainstream so decisively, the Deep South and Appalachia will no longer be able to dictate that winning Democrats have Southern accents or adhere to conservative policies on issues like welfare and tax policy, experts say.
That could spell the end of the so-called Southern strategy, the doctrine that took shape under President Richard M. Nixon in which national elections were won by co-opting Southern whites on racial issues. And the Southernization of American politics — which reached its apogee in the 1990s when many Congressional leaders and President Bill Clinton were from the South — appears to have ended.
“I think that’s absolutely over,” said Thomas Schaller, a political scientist who argued prophetically that the Democrats could win national elections without the South.
The Republicans, meanwhile, have “become a Southernized party,” said Mr. Schaller, who teaches at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. “They have completely marginalized themselves to a mostly regional party,” he said, pointing out that nearly half of the current Republican House delegation is now Southern.
Merle Black, an expert on the region’s politics at Emory University in Atlanta, said the Republican Party went too far in appealing to the South, alienating voters elsewhere.
“They’ve maxed out on the South,” he said, which has “limited their appeal in the rest of the country.”
Even the Democrats made use of the Southern strategy, as the party’s two presidents in the last 40 years, Jimmy Carter and Mr. Clinton, were Southerners whose presence on the ticket served to assuage regional anxieties. Mr. Obama has now proved it is no longer necessary to include a Southerner on the national ticket — to quiet racial fears, for example — in order to win, in the view of analysts.
Several Southern states, including Arkansas, Louisiana and Tennessee, have voted for the winner in presidential elections for decades. No more. And Mr. Obama’s race appears to have been the critical deciding factor in pushing ever greater numbers of white Southerners away from the Democrats.
Here in Alabama, where Mr. McCain won 60.4 percent of the vote in his best Southern showing, he had the support of nearly 9 in 10 whites, according to exit polls, a figure comparable to other Southern states. Alabama analysts pointed to the persistence of traditional white Southern attitudes on race as the deciding factor in Mr. McCain’s strong margin. Mr. Obama won in Jefferson County, which includes the city of Birmingham, and in the Black Belt, but he made few inroads elsewhere.
“Race continues to play a major role in the state,” said Glenn Feldman, a historian at the University of Alabama, Birmingham. “Alabama, unfortunately, continues to remain shackled to the bonds of yesterday.”
David Bositis, senior political analyst at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, pointed out that the 18 percent share of whites that voted for Senator John Kerry in 2004 was almost cut in half for Mr. Obama.
“There’s no other explanation than race,” he said.
In Arkansas, which had among the nation’s largest concentration of counties increasing their support for the Republican candidate over the 2004 vote, “there’s a clear indication that racial conservatism was a component of that shift away from the Democrat,” said Jay Barth, a political scientist in the state.
Race was a strong subtext in post-election conversations across the socioeconomic spectrum here in Vernon, the small, struggling seat of Lamar County on the Mississippi border.
One white woman said she feared that blacks would now become more “aggressive,” while another volunteered that she was bothered by the idea of a black man “over me” in the White House.
Mr. McCain won 76 percent of the county’s vote, about five percentage points more than Mr. Bush did, because “a lot more people came out, hoping to keep Obama out,” Joey Franks, a construction worker, said in the parking lot of the Shop and Save.
Mr. Franks, who voted for Mr. McCain, said he believed that “over 50 percent voted against Obama for racial reasons,” adding that in his own case race mattered “a little bit. That’s in my mind.”
Many people made it clear that they were deeply apprehensive about Mr. Obama, though some said they were hoping for the best.
“I think any time you have someone elected president of the United States with a Muslim name, whether they are white or black, there are some very unsettling things,” George W. Newman, a director at a local bank and the former owner of a trucking business, said over lunch at Yellow Creek Fish and Steak.
Don Dollar, the administrative assistant at City Hall, said bitterly that anyone not upset with Mr. Obama’s victory should seek religious forgiveness.
“This is a community that’s supposed to be filled with a bunch of Christian folks,” he said. “If they’re not disappointed, they need to be at the altar.”
Customers of Bill Pennington, a barber whose downtown shop is decorated with hunting and fishing trophies, were “scared because they heard he had a Muslim background,” Mr. Pennington said over the country music on the radio. “Over and over again I heard that.”
Mr. Obama remains an unknown quantity in this corner of the South, and there are deep worries about the changes he will bring.
“I am concerned,” Gail McDaniel, who owns a cosmetics business, said in the parking lot of the Shop and Save. “The abortion thing bothers me. Same-sex marriage.”
“I think there are going to be outbreaks from blacks,” she added. “From where I’m from, this is going to give them the right to be more aggressive.”
As the United States moves to the center and away from divisive politics, the two major parties will have to deal with a demographic shift that changed the complexion of the 2008 presidential election. Even the Atlanta Journal-Constitution had an article concerning the viability of the Southern Strategy in light of the eventual Obama win. The AJC article had an interesting twist on how Gov. Sarah Palin would affect voting in the South based on the fact that she is a candidate tailor-made for the Southern Strategy (abortion, religion, guns, and states' rights)!
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One of the unintended consequences, as predicted by plezWorld, was that there would be an almost immediate knee jerk reaction to an Obama win to begin the rapid destruction of affirmative action in the United States. Exactly one week after President-Elect Obama obliterated the Southern Strategy, right-wing opinion is doing exactly as I predicted. The Wall Street Journal ran a piece that calls for re-examination of the Voting Rights Act (and its 2006 update) since Barack Obama proved that race-based Congressional districts are no longer necessary, since it was proved last week that white people will vote for a Black person.
Wall Street Journal opinion piece titled, "Racial Gerrymandering is Unnecessary":
The conventional wisdom among voting-rights advocates and political scientists has been that whites will not vote for black candidates in significant numbers. Hence the need for federal protection in the form of race-based districts that create safe black constituencies where black candidates are sure to win.
But the myth of racist white voters was destroyed by this year's presidential election.
Although six out of 10 votes cast for Barack Obama came from whites, he did not win an overall majority of white votes -- he lost among this group 43%-55%. But no Democrat since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964 has won the majority of whites. The reason is simple: Just as African-Americans and Hispanics are disproportionately Democrats, whites are now disproportionately Republicans.
Remember Mr. Obama's weak performance with working-class white voters during the primaries? Many speculated at the time, and right up to Nov. 4, that those voters who pulled the lever for Hillary Clinton would defect to John McCain.
Not so. Mr. Obama's 43% share of the white vote in the general election was actually a tad larger than that of John Kerry in 2004 (41%) or Al Gore in 2000 (42%).
So what happened to all those "racists" or "rednecks" that John Murtha spoke of so recently? If there had been that many of them, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Virginia and Florida would have gone the other way, and we would have a President-elect McCain today. Racism is the Sherlock Holmes dog that did not bark in the night.
Consider Iowa, with only a miniscule African-American population. The 5% of voters who said race was the most important factor in their choice of whom to vote for backed Mr. Obama 54% to 45%. Or consider Minnesota and Wisconsin, also overwhelmingly white, where Mr. Obama's lead was 18% and 21% respectively among the 5% to 7% of voters who made race their highest priority.
These results do not mean we now live in a color-blind society. But we can say that the doors of electoral opportunity in America are open to all.
The aggressive federal interference in state and local districting decisions enshrined in the Voting Rights Act should therefore be reconsidered. That statute, adopted in 1965 and strengthened by Congress in the summer of 2006, demands race-driven districting maps to protect black candidates from white competition. That translates into an effort to create black representation proportional to the black population in the jurisdiction.
That law gave federal courts and the Justice Department what are, in effect, extraordinary war powers to combat the evil of ongoing Southern black disfranchisement. But blacks are no longer disfranchised -- by any definition.
In fact, racially gerrymandered districts are an impediment to political integration at all levels of government. Herding African-Americans into "max-black" districts forces black candidates to run in heavily gerrymandered districts. The candidates who emerge from those districts are, unsurprisingly, typically not the most well-positioned to appeal to a broader swath of the electorate.
Black candidates can win in multi-ethnic and even majority-white districts with color-blind voting. Mr. Obama should make it a priority to give more aspiring black politicians the opportunity to stand before white (and Latino and Asian and other ethnic) voters. He won, so can they.
American voters have turned a racial corner. The law should follow in their footsteps.
BARACK OBAMA ran a flawless campaign that left the remnants of the southern strategy in tatters. by concentrating on creating and energizing a "new electorate," the Obama campaign broke the generational and cultural hold that the Republican party had on the "backwards" south. by shrinking its geography, states that for the past 40 years would only go with a republican or a southern democrat now saw their electorate leaning blue.
if Obama can marshall the congress to do his bidding on just a few of his initiatives, these remaining pockets of the southern strategy will surely fall by the next election. should he fail, 2012 will yield an optimum opportunity for a resurgent sarah palin and her brand of right-wing fanatism to take hold and we could witness the rebirth of the southern strategy for the republicans. Obama's hold on the region is that tenuous.
the election of BARACK OBAMA was the death knell for the southern strategy... for the time being!
If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.
It's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen, by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different, that their voices could be that difference.
It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled. Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states.
We are, and always will be, the United States of America.
It's the answer that led those who've been told for so long by so many to be cynical and fearful and doubtful about what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.
It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this date in this election at this defining moment change has come to America.
A little bit earlier this evening, I received an extraordinarily gracious call from Sen. McCain.
Sen. McCain fought long and hard in this campaign. And he's fought even longer and harder for the country that he loves. He has endured sacrifices for America that most of us cannot begin to imagine. We are better off for the service rendered by this brave and selfless leader.
I congratulate him; I congratulate Gov. Palin for all that they've achieved. And I look forward to working with them to renew this nation's promise in the months ahead.
I want to thank my partner in this journey, a man who campaigned from his heart, and spoke for the men and women he grew up with on the streets of Scranton and rode with on the train home to Delaware, the vice president-elect of the United States, Joe Biden.
And I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last 16 years the rock of our family, the love of my life, the nation's next first lady Michelle Obama.
Sasha and Malia I love you both more than you can imagine. And you have earned the new puppy that's coming with us to the new White House.
And while she's no longer with us, I know my grandmother's watching, along with the family that made me who I am. I miss them tonight. I know that my debt to them is beyond measure.
To my sister Maya, my sister Alma, all my other brothers and sisters, thank you so much for all the support that you've given me. I am grateful to them.
And to my campaign manager, David Plouffe, the unsung hero of this campaign, who built the best -- the best political campaign, I think, in the history of the United States of America.
To my chief strategist David Axelrod who's been a partner with me every step of the way.
To the best campaign team ever assembled in the history of politics you made this happen, and I am forever grateful for what you've sacrificed to get it done.
But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to. It belongs to you. It belongs to you.
I was never the likeliest candidate for this office. We didn't start with much money or many endorsements. Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington. It began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston. It was built by working men and women who dug into what little savings they had to give $5 and $10 and $20 to the cause.
It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation's apathy who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep.
It drew strength from the not-so-young people who braved the bitter cold and scorching heat to knock on doors of perfect strangers, and from the millions of Americans who volunteered and organized and proved that more than two centuries later a government of the people, by the people, and for the people has not perished from the Earth.
This is your victory.
And I know you didn't do this just to win an election. And I know you didn't do it for me.
You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime -- two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century.
Even as we stand here tonight, we know there are brave Americans waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan to risk their lives for us.
There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after the children fall asleep and wonder how they'll make the mortgage or pay their doctors' bills or save enough for their child's college education.
There's new energy to harness, new jobs to be created, new schools to build, and threats to meet, alliances to repair.
The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term. But, America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there.
I promise you, we as a people will get there.
There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won't agree with every decision or policy I make as president. And we know the government can't solve every problem.
But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And, above all, I will ask you to join in the work of remaking this nation, the only way it's been done in America for 221 years -- block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.
What began 21 months ago in the depths of winter cannot end on this autumn night.
This victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were.
It can't happen without you, without a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrifice.
So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility, where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves but each other.
Let us remember that, if this financial crisis taught us anything, it's that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers.
In this country, we rise or fall as one nation, as one people. Let's resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long.
Let's remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House, a party founded on the values of self-reliance and individual liberty and national unity.
Those are values that we all share. And while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress.
As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, we are not enemies but friends. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.
And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn, I may not have won your vote tonight, but I hear your voices. I need your help. And I will be your president, too.
And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces, to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of the world, our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand.
To those -- to those who would tear the world down: We will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security: We support you. And to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright: Tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope.
That's the true genius of America: that America can change. Our union can be perfected. What we've already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.
This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that's on my mind tonight's about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She's a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing: Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.
She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons -- because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.
And tonight, I think about all that she's seen throughout her century in America -- the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can't, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.
At a time when women's voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.
When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs, a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.
When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.
She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that "We Shall Overcome." Yes we can.
A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination.
And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change.
Yes we can.
America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves -- if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?
This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment.
This is our time, to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that, out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope. And where we are met with cynicism and doubts and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can.
Thank you. God bless you. And may God bless the United States of America.
plezWorld wrote about Ann Nixon Cooper a few weeks ago (link)
Read the CNN.com articles about Barack Obama's win here and here.
plez sez: my eyes are red and tear up easily tonight. as late as a few days ago, i still couldn't believe that in my lifetime, we'd see one of the most enduring legacies of this country cast aside for a moment as America finally decided to live up to its creed.
this isn't a great day for Blacks in America... for there is only so much symbolism that an Obama Administration can evoke.
this is a great day for the world... for decades, America has been a beacon of light and reason in a world wrought with darkness. if only for one hour or for one day... America's light has shown brighter than ever before.
God Bless BARACK OBAMA and the United States of America.
The Sunday afternoon before the first Tuesday in November... in 2008.
Sen. Barack Obama is exhorting his supporters to get to the polls on Tuesday, "I don't win if you don't vote on Tuesday."
Sen. John McCain is exhorting his supporters to continue the "good fight," he's comeback many times before and this time will be no different (unless there's a repeat of 2000 when George W. Bush took him out in the Republican primaries).
~ ~ ~
According to just about every model that has been published, Barack Obama is nursing a substantial lead in the national polls and the key battleground states that he needs to win. FiveThirtyEight.com predicts about 332.9 electoral votes, based on their polling.
John McCain has only one option to be elected the 44th President of the United States, he must win ALL of the battleground states that were won by George W. Bush in 2004! Right now, he is trailing Obama in the following Bush 2004 states: Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, Colorado, New Mexico, and Nevada... and Florida is a dead heat! He is slightly ahead in Indiana, Missouri, and Montana.
Early voting has Obama putting pressure on McCain to get out the vote in such crucial states as Georgia, North Carolina, Ohio, and Virginia. And remember, McCain must win ALL of the Bush 2004 states in which he is currently trailing! The only non-Bush 2004 states that are "in play" for McCain according to the pollsters are New Hampshire and Pennsylvania for a grand total of 25 electoral votes.
Polls conducted since our update last evening suggest some tightening toward John McCain, but he sits well behind both nationwide and in many key battleground states and remains a long-shot to win the election.
The good news for McCain? SurveyUSA has become the latest pollster to show the race tightening in Pennsylvania, now giving Barack Obama a 7-point lead after he'd been in the mid-double digits at various points in October. The Muhlenberg/Morning Call tracker has also continued to tighten, also settling on that 7-point number.
SurveyUSA also has Virginia tightening a bit to 4 points. And McCain gained incrementally in the Research 2000, Gallup, and Diageo/Hotline trackers, although this comes after a couple of days when Obama had been moving up. (Rasmussen held steady, whereas Obama ticked up in Zogby).
Overall, our model shows McCain closing Obama's gap in the national popular vote to about 5.4 points. His win percentage has increased to 6.3 percent, from 3.8 percent last night.
However, several cautions about reading too much into these numbers:
Firstly, I have the model programmed to be EXTREMELY aggressive this time of year. There have been relatively few 'fresh' polls conducted within the past 24-48 hours -- most of these state polls were in the field late last week. As we get more data in today and tonight, the model could very well decide that the race is not tightening at all. Moreover, polling conducted on a weekend -- particularly on a quasi- holiday weekend -- is generally unreliable.
Secondly, even with this tightening, McCain remains well short the 2/2/2 condition that we defined last week:
John McCain polling within 2 points in 2 or more non-partisan polls (sorry, Strategic Vision) in at least 2 out of the 3 following states: Colorado, Virginia, Pennsylvania. Indeed, McCain has not come within 2 points of Obama in any polls in any of these states.
Finally, where McCain has made progress, it has come mostly from undecided voters rather than Obama's support -- this is particularly the case in Pennsylvania. Therefore, he may be running out of persuadables to persuade.
In a surprise move, it appears that normally red Montana has been moved to the "tossup" category by CNN.com.
CNN.com writes of "tossup" Montana:
Call it the battle for Big Sky country.
George W. Bush won Montana by 20 points in his re-election victory four years ago. But it seems times have changed in the state.
CNN's new Electoral College map, updated Sunday morning, moves Montana from "leaning John McCain" to "tossup."
The move is partially based on the new CNN poll of polls in Montana, compiled Friday, which suggests that McCain has a 1-point lead over his Democratic rival, Barack Obama, 46 percent to 45 percent. Nine percent of voters are undecided.
"The fact that Montana is up for grabs has to be extremely unsettling for the McCain campaign," said CNN Senior Political Researcher Alan Silverleib.
"Montana's usually a reliably Republican state in presidential campaigns. It's been won by the Democrats only twice in the past half century. If you're a Republican and you're fighting for Montana in the last few days of the campaign, you're not in good shape."
Three electoral votes are at stake in Montana, a state Obama visited in late August. McCain, the Republican nominee, has not campaigned in Montana during the general election.
With Montana moving to "tossup," CNN estimates that if the election were held today, Obama would win states with 291 electoral votes -- more than enough to capture the White House.
plez sez: this will easily be the most exciting election of my forty-something years! the battle is between a Black guy who could just as easily be a close friend or cousin and an elder statesman white guy who is older than ronald reagan when he won the presidency!
the dynamics of watching an American dream unfold before our eyes: a Black guy born of a Kenyan father and a mother from Kansas, born in a country before Black people could vote in some parts of the country. we've literally watched BARACK OBAMA become a statesman before our eyes, as we watched him enthrall the crowd during the 2004 Democratic National Convention to his numerous debates with Sen. Hillary Clinton to his address on race to his massive community organization effort to mobilize millions on his behalf to his staring down the elder statesman to his becoming a world figure to his being on the cusp of becoming the Leader of the Free World!
my heart races in anticipation. you have no idea the fall that i've set myself up for if OBAMA does not win on tuesday. it will be a calamitous crash of monumental proportion... one which will probably involve years of therapy for full recovery!
the polls are pointing to an OBAMA win. the stars are aligned. history is waiting for OBAMA to inscribe the next chapter of America... a new America. An America for ALL, regardless of race, class, or station.
~ ~ ~
plezWorld will be working on November 4th to ensure that everyone in my community who wants to vote, gets to vote.
i spoke to my mother a few days ago. she grew up in the segregated south (north carolina) in the 30's and 40's.
Black people weren't allowed to vote back then.
my mother and father didn't get a chance to vote until they moved our family to new york in the mid-1950's. i was born before the Civil Rights Act of 1965. i was born before it was illegal to deny Black people the right to vote. in my short life, i've seen BARACK OBAMA's story go from fantastic to realistic.
on friday, my mother and her sister took advantage of early voting in Virginia. they both voted for BARACK OBAMA!
It is reported that by Monday, over 21 percent of the registered voters have taken advantage of early voting and absentee voting in the state of Georgia. Many of these voters are newly registered, first time voters.
For the last couple of days, we've had unseasonal cold weather (in the low 40's in the mornings), but it has not deterred Georgia voters for waiting up to 5 hours to take advantage of early voting. The long wait times are mainly concentrated in the metro Atlanta area which has about three-fourths of the state's population.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has started reporting on the wait times at various early voting locations in the metro area. The state has already said that it will not increase the dates or times for early voting. The last day for early voting in Georgia is Halloween, Friday, October 31, 2008.
Early Voting Wait Times (by Metro Atlanta County) (as of Wednesday, October 29th)
CLAYTON COUNTY All offices open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Elections and Registration Office: 121 S. McDonough St., Jonesboro
Update: At 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, nearly 200 people were in line. Poll workers said the wait is 90 minutes, but a voter at the head of the line said he had been waiting three hours. Lines started forming about 6:45 a.m.; 10 machines are in operation. Some elderly voters didn’t know that here, as elsewhere, they can bypass the line if they’re at least 75 years old or disabled.
Carl Rhodenizer Recreation Center: 3499 Rex Road, Rex
Update: At noon Wednesday, about 125 people waited in line. A poll worker said the wait was 90 minutes, but a voter said she waited three hours. At least 200 people were in line 20 minutes before doors opened, with the first arriving about 5:30 a.m. Voters in Rex get to wait indoors — in the gymnasium — and there are activities for children.
Lee Headquarters Library: 865 Battle Creek Road, Jonesboro
Update: At 4:25 p.m., 147 people waited in line. The wait was about an hour and a half.
Update: Wait time was about an hour at 1:50 p.m., with about 75 people in line. The site has six voting machines, one more than on Monday.
Morrow Municipal Complex (Community Room): 1500 Morrow Road, Morrow
Update: Wait time was about an hour and 45 minutes at about 3:45 p.m., with about 130 people in line. The site has voting machines, one more than on Monday.
Frank Bailey Senior Center: 6213 Riverdale Road, Riverdale
Update: At 4 p.m., about 269 people waited in line. The wait was about three hours and twenty minutes in the morning, four hours at midday.
COBB COUNTY Main office is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Satellite offices are open 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Cobb Elections Main Office: West Park Government Center, 736 Whitlock Ave., Marietta
Update:About 200 people are in line. The wait time is about 2 hours.
East Cobb Government Service Center: 4400 Lower Roswell Road, Marietta
Update: There is a two-hour wait time. At all polling locations, people who are disabled or over 75 years old can go to the front of the line between the hours of 9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m., poll workers said.
South Cobb Government Service Center: 4700 Austell Road, Austell
Update: Two hour wait time.
Boots Ward Recreation Center: Lost Mountain Park, 4845 Dallas Highway, Powder Springs
Update: Voters waiting in line at noon stayed inside the recreation center. Parking is plentiful and lines are moving fine. The wait: just under 2 hours.
North Cobb Senior Center (at Kennworth Park): 4100 Highway 293 (Old 41), Acworth
Update: Election officials report the wait is about three hours.
The Gallery at Galleria Specialty Mall: Two Galleria Parkway S.E., Atlanta
Update: Shortest wait in the county at 1 1/2 hours Wednesday afternoon. There is also no waiting outside this polling place and plenty of parking.
DEKALB COUNTY All offices are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Memorial Drive Complex: 4380 Memorial Drive, Suite 300, Decatur (across street from the jail)
Update: At 4 p.m., the wait was an hour and a half, elections officials said.
Decatur: 330 West Ponce de Leon Ave., Room A, Decatur (Directly across the street from the Wachovia Bank, closer to the Post Office)
Update: At 4 p.m., the wait was an hour and a half.
DeKalb County Fire Headquarters: 1950 W. Exchange Place, Training Conference Room, Tucker
Update: At 4 p.m., the wait was an hour.
Liane Levetan Park at Brook Run: 4770 N. Peachtree Road, Dunwoody
Update: At 4 p.m., the wait was an hour and three quarters.
South DeKalb Senior Center: 1931 Candler Road, Decatur
Update: At 4 p.m., the wait was an hour and a half.
FULTON COUNTY
All offices are open from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Fulton County Government Center: 141 Pryor St., Suite 4064, Atlanta
Update: At 4 p.m. wait times estimated at 2 hours.
North Fulton Service Center: 7741 Roswell Road, Room 209, Atlanta
Update: Three-hour waits at noon, with a line voters wrapped around the building and limited parking. Voters said the process was going smoothly and most were prepared for the cold weather.
South Fulton Service Center: 5600 Stonewall Tell Road, Room 105, Atlanta
Update: Three hour waits at 9:15 a.m., with several hundred people in line.
Adamsville Rec Center: 3201 M.L. King Jr. Drive S.W., Atlanta
Update:Voters and pollworkers reported 1.5 hour waits at about 3 p.m. People waited inside, sitting on bleachers. A second wait area was set up in another room for the elderly and handicapped so they would not have to use any stairs.
Hembree Park: 850 Hembree Road, Roswell
Update: At 4 p.m., the wait was about two and a half hours with about 450 people in line.
Northeast/Spruill Oaks Library: 9560 Spruill Road, Johns Creek
Update: At 4 p.m., the wait was about two hours . Hundreds of people were in line and more were arriving.
Welcome All Park: 4255 Will Lee Road, Atlanta
Update: Wait is about two hours at noon. Hundreds of people in line, but the voters are generally cheerful, prepared for the cold and the wait — some brought stadium chairs. Parking is extremely limited and voters are parking throughout the neighborhood.
GWINNETT COUNTY The main office is open 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Satellite offices are open 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Gwinnett County Voter Registration and Elections office: 455 Grayson Highway, Suite 200, Lawrenceville
Centerville Community Center: 3025 Bethany Church Road, Snellville
Update: About 600 people were in line when doors opened, with the parking lot overflowing and many people parking on busy Bethany Church Road and in a neighboring subdivision.
Dacula Activity Building: 2735 Old Auburn Road, Dacula
George Pierce Community Center: 55 Buford Highway, Suwanee
Update: More than 400 people were in line at about 4 p.m. The wait would be about three and a half hours, but the line was growing longer.
Update: The wait time was estimated at one and a half hours at 4 p.m., but the line was growing longer. Poll workers got two more voting machines around midmorning, bringing the total to 14.
plez sez: voter turnout is expected to be HUGE on November 4th, vote early!
i'm taking my mother-in-law and her mother to early voting on Thursday morning.
BLOG UPDATE: 10/30/2008 1:00 PM - plezWorld took the mother-in-law and grandmother to vote at Adamsville Rec Center in Atlanta this morning. they had a special waiting area for senior citizens - as my mother-in-law is over 70 and her mother is in a wheelchair. all of the poll workers were nice and courteous, there were even some snacks (cookies, crackers, and bottled water) on the tables where we waited. the entire process took about 90 minutes.
i spoke with my mother (who lives in Virginia) earlier today... and she is taking advantage of early voting in her city, as well!
On Monday afternoon, in Canton, Ohio, Sen. Barack Obama laid out in broad strokes the reasons why Americans should elect him as the 44th President of the United States. He told the voters that that after twenty-one months and three debates, Senator McCain still has not been able to tell the American people a single major thing he’d do differently from George Bush when it comes to the economy. But this is going to be a close race and the campaign must remain vigilant to win on November 4th.
Obama said, "We cannot let up for one day, one minute, or one second in this last week. Not now. Don't think for a minute that power concedes. We have a lot of work to do. We have to work like our future depends on it in this last week, because it does depend on it this week."
"Sen. McCain says that we can't spend the next four years waiting for our luck to change, but you understand that the biggest gamble we can take is to embrace the same old Bush-McCain policies that have failed us for the last eight years," Obama said.
Portions of Barack Obama's Closing Argument Speech:
After decades of broken politics in Washington, eight years of failed policies from George Bush, and twenty-one months of a campaign that has taken us from the rocky coast of Maine to the sunshine of California, we are one week away from change in America.
In one week, you can turn the page on policies that have put the greed and irresponsibility of Wall Street before the hard work and sacrifice of folks on Main Street.
In one week, you can choose policies that invest in our middle-class, create new jobs, and grow this economy from the bottom-up so that everyone has a chance to succeed; from the CEO to the secretary and the janitor; from the factory owner to the men and women who work on its floor.
In one week, you can put an end to the politics that would divide a nation just to win an election; that tries to pit region against region, city against town, Republican against Democrat; that asks us to fear at a time when we need hope.
In one week, at this defining moment in history, you can give this country the change we need.
We began this journey in the depths of winter nearly two years ago, on the steps of the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois. Back then, we didn't have much money or many endorsements. We weren't given much of a chance by the polls or the pundits, and we knew how steep our climb would be.
But I also knew this. I knew that the size of our challenges had outgrown the smallness of our politics. I believed that Democrats and Republicans and Americans of every political stripe were hungry for new ideas, new leadership, and a new kind of politics – one that favors common sense over ideology; one that focuses on those values and ideals we hold in common as Americans.
Most of all, I believed in your ability to make change happen. I knew that the American people were a decent, generous people who are willing to work hard and sacrifice for future generations. And I was convinced that when we come together, our voices are more powerful than the most entrenched lobbyists, or the most vicious political attacks, or the full force of a status quo in Washington that wants to keep things just the way they are.
Twenty-one months later, my faith in the American people has been vindicated. That's how we've come so far and so close – because of you. That's how we'll change this country – with your help. And that's why we can't afford to slow down, sit back, or let up for one day, one minute, or one second in this last week. Not now. Not when so much is at stake.
We are in the middle of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. 760,000 workers have lost their jobs this year. Businesses and families can't get credit. Home values are falling. Pensions are disappearing. Wages are lower than they've been in a decade, at a time when the cost of health care and college have never been higher. It's getting harder and harder to make the mortgage, or fill up your gas tank, or even keep the electricity on at the end of the month.
At a moment like this, the last thing we can afford is four more years of the tired, old theory that says we should give more to billionaires and big corporations and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else. The last thing we can afford is four more years where no one in Washington is watching anyone on Wall Street because politicians and lobbyists killed common-sense regulations. Those are the theories that got us into this mess. They haven't worked, and it's time for change. That's why I'm running for President of the United States.
Now, Senator McCain has served this country honorably. And he can point to a few moments over the past eight years where he has broken from George Bush – on torture, for example. He deserves credit for that. But when it comes to the economy – when it comes to the central issue of this election – the plain truth is that John McCain has stood with this President every step of the way. Voting for the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy that he once opposed. Voting for the Bush budgets that spent us into debt. Calling for less regulation twenty-one times just this year. Those are the facts.
And now, after twenty-one months and three debates, Senator McCain still has not been able to tell the American people a single major thing he'd do differently from George Bush when it comes to the economy. Senator McCain says that we can't spend the next four years waiting for our luck to change, but you understand that the biggest gamble we can take is embracing the same old Bush-McCain policies that have failed us for the last eight years.
It's not change when John McCain wants to give a $700,000 tax cut to the average Fortune 500 CEO. It's not change when he wants to give $200 billion to the biggest corporations or $4 billion to the oil companies or $300 billion to the same Wall Street banks that got us into this mess. It's not change when he comes up with a tax plan that doesn't give a penny of relief to more than 100 million middle-class Americans. That's not change.
Look – we've tried it John McCain's way. We've tried it George Bush's way. Deep down, Senator McCain knows that, which is why his campaign said that “if we keep talking about the economy, we're going to lose.” That's why he's spending these last weeks calling me every name in the book. Because that's how you play the game in Washington. If you can't beat your opponent's ideas, you distort those ideas and maybe make some up. If you don't have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run away from. You make a big election about small things.
Ohio, we are here to say “Not this time. Not this year. Not when so much is at stake.” Senator McCain might be worried about losing an election, but I'm worried about Americans who are losing their homes, and their jobs, and their life savings. I can take one more week of John McCain's attacks, but this country can't take four more years of the same old politics and the same failed policies. It's time for something new.
The question in this election is not “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” We know the answer to that. The real question is, “Will this country be better off four years from now?”
I know these are difficult times for America. But I also know that we have faced difficult times before. The American story has never been about things coming easy – it's been about rising to the moment when the moment was hard. It's about seeing the highest mountaintop from the deepest of valleys. It's about rejecting fear and division for unity of purpose. That's how we've overcome war and depression. That's how we've won great struggles for civil rights and women's rights and worker's rights. And that's how we'll emerge from this crisis stronger and more prosperous than we were before – as one nation; as one people.
Remember, we still have the most talented, most productive workers of any country on Earth. We're still home to innovation and technology, colleges and universities that are the envy of the world. Some of the biggest ideas in history have come from our small businesses and our research facilities. So there's no reason we can't make this century another American century. We just need a new direction. We need a new politics.
Now, I don't believe that government can or should try to solve all our problems. I know you don't either. But I do believe that government should do that which we cannot do for ourselves – protect us from harm and provide a decent education for our children; invest in new roads and new science and technology. It should reward drive and innovation and growth in the free market, but it should also make sure businesses live up to their responsibility to create American jobs, and look out for American workers, and play by the rules of the road. It should ensure a shot at success not only for those with money and power and influence, but for every single American who's willing to work. That's how we create not just more millionaires, but more middle-class families. That's how we make sure businesses have customers that can afford their products and services. That's how we've always grown the American economy – from the bottom-up. John McCain calls this socialism. I call it opportunity, and there is nothing more American than that.
Understand, if we want get through this crisis, we need to get beyond the old ideological debates and divides between left and right. We don't need bigger government or smaller government. We need a better government – a more competent government – a government that upholds the values we hold in common as Americans.
We don't have to choose between allowing our financial system to collapse and spending billions of taxpayer dollars to bail out Wall Street banks. As President, I will ensure that the financial rescue plan helps stop foreclosures and protects your money instead of enriching CEOs. And I will put in place the common-sense regulations I've been calling for throughout this campaign so that Wall Street can never cause a crisis like this again. That's the change we need.
The choice in this election isn't between tax cuts and no tax cuts. It's about whether you believe we should only reward wealth, or whether we should also reward the work and workers who create it. I will give a tax break to 95% of Americans who work every day and get taxes taken out of their paychecks every week. I'll eliminate income taxes for seniors making under $50,000 and give homeowners and working parents more of a break. And I'll help pay for this by asking the folks who are making more than $250,000 a year to go back to the tax rate they were paying in the 1990s. No matter what Senator McCain may claim, here are the facts – if you make under $250,000, you will not see your taxes increase by a single dime – not your income taxes, not your payroll taxes, not your capital gains taxes. Nothing. Because the last thing we should do in this economy is raise taxes on the middle-class.
When it comes to jobs, the choice in this election is not between putting up a wall around America or allowing every job to disappear overseas. The truth is, we won't be able to bring back every job that we've lost, but that doesn't mean we should follow John McCain's plan to keep giving tax breaks to corporations that send American jobs overseas. I will end those breaks as President, and I will give American businesses a $3,000 tax credit for every job they create right here in the United States of America. I'll eliminate capital gains taxes for small businesses and start-up companies that are the engine of job creation in this country. We'll create two million new jobs by rebuilding our crumbling roads, and bridges, and schools, and by laying broadband lines to reach every corner of the country. And I will invest $15 billion a year in renewable sources of energy to create five million new energy jobs over the next decade – jobs that pay well and can't be outsourced; jobs building solar panels and wind turbines and a new electricity grid; jobs building the fuel-efficient cars of tomorrow, not in Japan or South Korea but here in the United States of America; jobs that will help us eliminate the oil we import from the Middle East in ten years and help save the planet in the bargain. That's how America can lead again.
When it comes to health care, we don't have to choose between a government-run health care system and the unaffordable one we have now. If you already have health insurance, the only thing that will change under my plan is that we will lower premiums. If you don't have health insurance, you'll be able to get the same kind of health insurance that Members of Congress get for themselves. We'll invest in preventative care and new technology to finally lower the cost of health care for families, businesses, and the entire economy. And as someone who watched his own mother spend the final months of her life arguing with insurance companies because they claimed her cancer was a pre-existing condition and didn't want to pay for treatment, I will stop insurance companies from discriminating against those who are sick and need care most.
When it comes to giving every child a world-class education so they can compete in this global economy for the jobs of the 21st century, the choice is not between more money and more reform – because our schools need both. As President, I will invest in early childhood education, recruit an army of new teachers, pay them more, and give them more support. But I will also demand higher standards and more accountability from our teachers and our schools. And I will make a deal with every American who has the drive and the will but not the money to go to college: if you commit to serving your community or your country, we will make sure you can afford your tuition. You invest in America, America will invest in you, and together, we will move this country forward.
And when it comes to keeping this country safe, we don't have to choose between retreating from the world and fighting a war without end in Iraq. It's time to stop spending $10 billion a month in Iraq while the Iraqi government sits on a huge surplus. As President, I will end this war by asking the Iraqi government to step up, and finally finish the fight against bin Laden and the al Qaeda terrorists who attacked us on 9/11. I will never hesitate to defend this nation, but I will only send our troops into harm's way with a clear mission and a sacred commitment to give them the equipment they need in battle and the care and benefits they deserve when they come home. I will build new partnerships to defeat the threats of the 21st century, and I will restore our moral standing, so that America is once again that last, best hope for all who are called to the cause of freedom, who long for lives of peace, and who yearn for a better future.
I won't stand here and pretend that any of this will be easy – especially now. The cost of this economic crisis, and the cost of the war in Iraq, means that Washington will have to tighten its belt and put off spending on things we can afford to do without. On this, there is no other choice. As President, I will go through the federal budget, line-by-line, ending programs that we don't need and making the ones we do need work better and cost less.
But as I've said from the day we began this journey all those months ago, the change we need isn't just about new programs and policies. It's about a new politics – a politics that calls on our better angels instead of encouraging our worst instincts; one that reminds us of the obligations we have to ourselves and one another.
Part of the reason this economic crisis occurred is because we have been living through an era of profound irresponsibility. On Wall Street, easy money and an ethic of “what's good for me is good enough” blinded greedy executives to the danger in the decisions they were making. On Main Street, lenders tricked people into buying homes they couldn't afford. Some folks knew they couldn't afford those houses and bought them anyway. In Washington, politicians spent money they didn't have and allowed lobbyists to set the agenda. They scored political points instead of solving our problems, and even after the greatest attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor, all we were asked to do by our President was to go out and shop.
That is why what we have lost in these last eight years cannot be measured by lost wages or bigger trade deficits alone. What has also been lost is the idea that in this American story, each of us has a role to play. Each of us has a responsibility to work hard and look after ourselves and our families, and each of us has a responsibility to our fellow citizens. That's what's been lost these last eight years – our sense of common purpose; of higher purpose. And that's what we need to restore right now.
Yes, government must lead the way on energy independence, but each of us must do our part to make our homes and our businesses more efficient. Yes, we must provide more ladders to success for young men who fall into lives of crime and despair. But all of us must do our part as parents to turn off the television and read to our children and take responsibility for providing the love and guidance they need. Yes, we can argue and debate our positions passionately, but at this defining moment, all of us must summon the strength and grace to bridge our differences and unite in common effort – black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American; Democrat and Republican, young and old, rich and poor, gay and straight, disabled or not.
In this election, we cannot afford the same political games and tactics that are being used to pit us against one another and make us afraid of one another. The stakes are too high to divide us by class and region and background; by who we are or what we believe.
Because despite what our opponents may claim, there are no real or fake parts of this country. There is no city or town that is more pro-America than anywhere else – we are one nation, all of us proud, all of us patriots. There are patriots who supported this war in Iraq and patriots who opposed it; patriots who believe in Democratic policies and those who believe in Republican policies. The men and women who serve in our battlefields may be Democrats and Republicans and Independents, but they have fought together and bled together and some died together under the same proud flag. They have not served a Red America or a Blue America – they have served the United States of America.
It won't be easy, Ohio. It won't be quick. But you and I know that it is time to come together and change this country. Some of you may be cynical and fed up with politics. A lot of you may be disappointed and even angry with your leaders. You have every right to be. But despite all of this, I ask of you what has been asked of Americans throughout our history.
I ask you to believe – not just in my ability to bring about change, but in yours.
I know this change is possible. Because I have seen it over the last twenty-one months. Because in this campaign, I have had the privilege to witness what is best in America.
I've seen it in lines of voters that stretched around schools and churches; in the young people who cast their ballot for the first time, and those not so young folks who got involved again after a very long time. I've seen it in the workers who would rather cut back their hours than see their friends lose their jobs; in the neighbors who take a stranger in when the floodwaters rise; in the soldiers who re-enlist after losing a limb. I've seen it in the faces of the men and women I've met at countless rallies and town halls across the country, men and women who speak of their struggles but also of their hopes and dreams.
I still remember the email that a woman named Robyn sent me after I met her in Ft. Lauderdale. Sometime after our event, her son nearly went into cardiac arrest, and was diagnosed with a heart condition that could only be treated with a procedure that cost tens of thousands of dollars. Her insurance company refused to pay, and their family just didn't have that kind of money.
In her email, Robyn wrote, “I ask only this of you – on the days where you feel so tired you can't think of uttering another word to the people, think of us. When those who oppose you have you down, reach deep and fight back harder.”
Ohio, that's what hope is – that thing inside us that insists, despite all evidence to the contrary, that something better is waiting around the bend; that insists there are better days ahead. If we're willing to work for it. If we're willing to shed our fears and our doubts. If we're willing to reach deep down inside ourselves when we're tired and come back fighting harder.
Hope! That's what kept some of our parents and grandparents going when times were tough. What led them to say, “Maybe I can't go to college, but if I save a little bit each week my child can; maybe I can't have my own business but if I work really hard my child can open one of her own.” It's what led immigrants from distant lands to come to these shores against great odds and carve a new life for their families in America; what led those who couldn't vote to march and organize and stand for freedom; that led them to cry out, “It may look dark tonight, but if I hold on to hope, tomorrow will be brighter.”
That's what this election is about. That is the choice we face right now.
Don't believe for a second this election is over. Don't think for a minute that power concedes. We have to work like our future depends on it in this last week, because it does.
In one week, we can choose an economy that rewards work and creates new jobs and fuels prosperity from the bottom-up.
In one week, we can choose to invest in health care for our families, and education for our kids, and renewable energy for our future.
In one week, we can choose hope over fear, unity over division, the promise of change over the power of the status quo.
In one week, we can come together as one nation, and one people, and once more choose our better history.
That's what's at stake. That's what we're fighting for. And if in this last week, you will knock on some doors for me, and make some calls for me, and talk to your neighbors, and convince your friends; if you will stand with me, and fight with me, and give me your vote, then I promise you this – we will not just win Ohio, we will not just win this election, but together, we will change this country and we will change the world. Thank you, God bless you, and may God bless America.
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Read the CNN.com article about the last week of Barack Obama's campaign for president here and here.
plez sez: BARACK OBAMA made his case for president while continuing to link john mccain to george bush.
we are one week away from changing AMERICA and plezWorld!
~ husband ~ father ~ son ~ brother ~ mentor ~ subdivision dweller ~ northern by birth ~ southern by choice ~ raised a black baptist, now guided by the spiritual ~ raised a kennedy democrat, now politically dead center (moderate) ~ raised in a Cadillac Coupe Deville, now hooked on an SUV ~ college educated and still a student of life ~ wild college frat boy and now a settled alumnus ~ intellectual yet fun-loving geek ~ technical and leading edge ~ corporate cog ~ consultant ~ college football saturday devotee ~ and a ramblin' gamblin' helluva engineer (GO JACKETS!) ~
This is my personal blog. The views expressed on these pages are mine; and they are in no way associated with the views of my employer, family, friends, or associates.
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