Our Housing mess started along time ago before the Bush administration took office in 2001. It started with the Carter Administration then finished up in the Clinton administration with folks like Obama, Maxine waters, Barney frank, and Chris Dodd. But now 2008 the Democrats want to blame President Bush and the Republicans for the mess we're in today. But Video doesn't lie, take 30 minutes of your time and review what really happen. Obama in a interview "stated this plan that the Clinton administration did by forcing the banks to buy risky loans for Low income people was good". Maxine waters stated we need 100% financing, that the Republicans and President bush was only trying to scare people.
Clinton administration's "BANK AFFIRMATIVE ACTION" They forced banks to make BAD LOANS and ACORN and Obama's tie to all of it!!!
Shocking Video Unearthed Democrats in their own words Covering up the Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Scam that caused our Economic Crisis
Explosive Video, Fannie Mae CEO calling Obama and the Dems the "Family" and "Conscience" of Fannie Mae
Timeline shows Bush, McCain warning Dems of financial mess
The Democrats and Obama caused the financial crisis of 08 by supporting Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and covering up their bad books.
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Showing posts with label Obama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Obama. Show all posts
Friday, January 02, 2009
Thursday, November 20, 2008
A tiny country located in the Middle East has developed enough Uranium to Build one bomb
Iran has now produced roughly enough uranium to make a single nuclear bomb, according to atomic experts analyzing the latest report from the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency, The New York Times reported Wednesday. Statement during Obama Presidential campaign.
To date, Iran had enriched about 1,400 pounds of low-enriched uranium suitable for nuclear fuel, according to two confidential reports from the International Atomic Energy Agency that were obtained by The Associated Press.
Several experts told The Times the milestone was enough for a bomb, but Iran would have to further purify the uranium fuel and put it into a warhead design — a technical advance that experts in the West are unsure Iran has been able to achieve.
Khamenei said Iran and Israel were on a "collision course," a statement that could further increase tensions in a Middle East already fearful of a conflict between the two countries.
By Ramin Mostaghim and Borzou Daragahi, Special to The Times
September 20, 2008
"Who are Israelis?" Khamenei told thousands of worshipers gathered for Friday prayers in downtown Tehran. "They are responsible for usurping houses, territory, farmlands and businesses. They are combatants at the disposal of Zionist operatives. A Muslim nation cannot remain indifferent vis-a-vis such people who are stooges at the service of the arch-foes of the Muslim world."
Khamenei said Iran and Israel were on a "collision course," a statement that could further increase tensions in a Middle East already fearful of a conflict between the two countries.
To date, Iran had enriched about 1,400 pounds of low-enriched uranium suitable for nuclear fuel, according to two confidential reports from the International Atomic Energy Agency that were obtained by The Associated Press.
Several experts told The Times the milestone was enough for a bomb, but Iran would have to further purify the uranium fuel and put it into a warhead design — a technical advance that experts in the West are unsure Iran has been able to achieve.
Khamenei said Iran and Israel were on a "collision course," a statement that could further increase tensions in a Middle East already fearful of a conflict between the two countries.
By Ramin Mostaghim and Borzou Daragahi, Special to The Times
September 20, 2008
"Who are Israelis?" Khamenei told thousands of worshipers gathered for Friday prayers in downtown Tehran. "They are responsible for usurping houses, territory, farmlands and businesses. They are combatants at the disposal of Zionist operatives. A Muslim nation cannot remain indifferent vis-a-vis such people who are stooges at the service of the arch-foes of the Muslim world."
Khamenei said Iran and Israel were on a "collision course," a statement that could further increase tensions in a Middle East already fearful of a conflict between the two countries.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Pres.-Elect Obama's Transition to the White House
As Inauguration Day quickly approaches, a daunting transition to-do list awaits the Obama administration.
Nearly 8,000 jobs waiting to be filled. Empty file drawers. Missing computer hard drives. Even furniture piled in the hallways.
The most powerful office in the world has less than three months to come into being, essentially from scratch.
"It is a very weird thing to walk into," said White House chief of staff Josh Bolten, who helped President Bush build a new government eight years ago. "There are no papers, no books. You have computer equipment but there's nothing on there. You've got a telephone but you just sort of barely know what everybody else's phone number is."
Bush's White House started working nearly a year before Election Day to get the government in shape to be handed off. Aides to President-elect Obama also began planning before the voting, just in case their candidate won. But everything accelerates into overdrive now that the 77-day presidential transition clock has started ticking.
Everything on the daunting transition to-do list will certainly not be checked off by Jan. 20, when President-elect Obama walks through the door of the White House as President Obama. But much must be done, especially naming staff and officials.
Put aside that it's the first wartime presidential transition in 40 years and that the country is gripped by fierce economic troubles. Consider that only days after taking over the Oval office, Obama must present to Congress his first budget request for the entire government.
After 232 years, America can be quite quaint about the transfer of power from one administration to the next. Even when a different party is taking over, there are tried-and-true rituals to be indulged.
There's the White House meeting between the outgoing and incoming commander in chief, usually accompanied by a parallel confab between their spouses. This time it's taking place much sooner than is typical, Today will be less than a week after Election Day.
What White House spokesman Tony Fratto called "a very special meeting in our democracy" brings the new guy to the White House in a way he never has visited before. Obama will be treated to a tour of his new home and office with the eyes of someone about to move in, and with the man holding the secrets known by only the small club of presidents as his guide.
In other words, Obama will get to hear and see the good stuff: maybe the weapons cache hidden in the West Wing or classified communications capabilities or the instructions for summoning a cup of coffee. The president-elect gets to, in that hackneyed cliche of campaigns, actually measure the drapes.
Incidentally, one design item that might draw particular interest is the rug in the Oval Office.
Each new occupant gets to custom-design a new one. Bush frequently cites that duty as a) his first presidential decision and b) one that revealed something he believes central to his personal character and approach to leadership. As he likes to tell it, Bush delegated the rug-picking to his wife with orders to have it reflect optimism, so the cream-colored concoction that covers his floor resembles a sunburst.
Another transfer-of-power tradition is the remarkable chain of events prescribed for Inauguration Day. It could be called Moving Day on steroids.
The night before, the Bush White House staff will leave their offices for the last time, turning in badges and keys. They will be unable to get back into the White House unless for a crisis.
The next day, as soon as Bush leaves the White House to go to the Capitol to watch Obama take the oath, and while Obama rides in the parade down Pennsylvania Avenue and sits in the reviewing stands outside his new residence, an army of workers will box up and cart off the Bush-related contents of the building, personal and professional. Obama's, likewise, are brought in.
As mandated by federal law, the institutional memory of the place is wiped almost entirely clean. The Presidential Records Act of 1978 requires that all documents leave the White House with the outgoing president, except some in the National Security Council and the counsel's office.
That's not to say there aren't cheat sheets -- lots of them -- to help the new team.
Bookshelves in the office of White House deputy chief of staff Blake Gottesman are now covered with thick three-inch binders. Four of them, the thickest, spell out in detail the most daunting task of any incoming White House -- choosing 7,840 presidential appointees, and shepherding the 1,177 of those that need Senate confirmation through the Capitol Hill process.
Some estimate that 40,000 people will flood the new White House with resumes for those jobs in the first few weeks, and 75,000 in the first few months. A hint of how huge the task is: No administration has had confirmed more than about 25 Cabinet and sub-Cabinet personnel by April 1 or more than about 240 by its eighth month.
An additional dozen or so binders fill a separate long cabinet in Gottesman's office, coming from each part of the Executive Office of the President, such as the press shop and the congressional liaison group.
In addition, the NSC has prepared extensive briefing materials on every global hot spot imaginable, complete with contingency options for several possible emergency scenarios, said a senior administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to more freely describe the preparations. Bolten also said that members of Obama's staff will be invited to attend at least one "tabletop exercise" at the White House, a regular simulation of an emergency such as a terrorist attack or disease outbreak.
Obama's team started receiving information about key issues even before Election Day. Those briefings -- and efforts such as establishing side-by-side workspace for Treasury Department's $700 billion financial rescue program -- now are ramping up more each day.
Bolten said this earlier and more intense transition activity is crucial because of the dire times. The goal is something akin to a relay race, where "we are carrying the baton but the next runner will be running before we actually hand them that baton."
Bush aides are also under orders to leave the place tidy, and not repeat the acts of minor vandalism that slightly marred the transition from President Clinton to Bush.
"We will vacuum, we will clean our desks, we will take the gum out from under the conference tables," Bolten joked.
Nearly 8,000 jobs waiting to be filled. Empty file drawers. Missing computer hard drives. Even furniture piled in the hallways.
The most powerful office in the world has less than three months to come into being, essentially from scratch.
"It is a very weird thing to walk into," said White House chief of staff Josh Bolten, who helped President Bush build a new government eight years ago. "There are no papers, no books. You have computer equipment but there's nothing on there. You've got a telephone but you just sort of barely know what everybody else's phone number is."
Bush's White House started working nearly a year before Election Day to get the government in shape to be handed off. Aides to President-elect Obama also began planning before the voting, just in case their candidate won. But everything accelerates into overdrive now that the 77-day presidential transition clock has started ticking.
Everything on the daunting transition to-do list will certainly not be checked off by Jan. 20, when President-elect Obama walks through the door of the White House as President Obama. But much must be done, especially naming staff and officials.
Put aside that it's the first wartime presidential transition in 40 years and that the country is gripped by fierce economic troubles. Consider that only days after taking over the Oval office, Obama must present to Congress his first budget request for the entire government.
After 232 years, America can be quite quaint about the transfer of power from one administration to the next. Even when a different party is taking over, there are tried-and-true rituals to be indulged.
There's the White House meeting between the outgoing and incoming commander in chief, usually accompanied by a parallel confab between their spouses. This time it's taking place much sooner than is typical, Today will be less than a week after Election Day.
What White House spokesman Tony Fratto called "a very special meeting in our democracy" brings the new guy to the White House in a way he never has visited before. Obama will be treated to a tour of his new home and office with the eyes of someone about to move in, and with the man holding the secrets known by only the small club of presidents as his guide.
In other words, Obama will get to hear and see the good stuff: maybe the weapons cache hidden in the West Wing or classified communications capabilities or the instructions for summoning a cup of coffee. The president-elect gets to, in that hackneyed cliche of campaigns, actually measure the drapes.
Incidentally, one design item that might draw particular interest is the rug in the Oval Office.
Each new occupant gets to custom-design a new one. Bush frequently cites that duty as a) his first presidential decision and b) one that revealed something he believes central to his personal character and approach to leadership. As he likes to tell it, Bush delegated the rug-picking to his wife with orders to have it reflect optimism, so the cream-colored concoction that covers his floor resembles a sunburst.
Another transfer-of-power tradition is the remarkable chain of events prescribed for Inauguration Day. It could be called Moving Day on steroids.
The night before, the Bush White House staff will leave their offices for the last time, turning in badges and keys. They will be unable to get back into the White House unless for a crisis.
The next day, as soon as Bush leaves the White House to go to the Capitol to watch Obama take the oath, and while Obama rides in the parade down Pennsylvania Avenue and sits in the reviewing stands outside his new residence, an army of workers will box up and cart off the Bush-related contents of the building, personal and professional. Obama's, likewise, are brought in.
As mandated by federal law, the institutional memory of the place is wiped almost entirely clean. The Presidential Records Act of 1978 requires that all documents leave the White House with the outgoing president, except some in the National Security Council and the counsel's office.
That's not to say there aren't cheat sheets -- lots of them -- to help the new team.
Bookshelves in the office of White House deputy chief of staff Blake Gottesman are now covered with thick three-inch binders. Four of them, the thickest, spell out in detail the most daunting task of any incoming White House -- choosing 7,840 presidential appointees, and shepherding the 1,177 of those that need Senate confirmation through the Capitol Hill process.
Some estimate that 40,000 people will flood the new White House with resumes for those jobs in the first few weeks, and 75,000 in the first few months. A hint of how huge the task is: No administration has had confirmed more than about 25 Cabinet and sub-Cabinet personnel by April 1 or more than about 240 by its eighth month.
An additional dozen or so binders fill a separate long cabinet in Gottesman's office, coming from each part of the Executive Office of the President, such as the press shop and the congressional liaison group.
In addition, the NSC has prepared extensive briefing materials on every global hot spot imaginable, complete with contingency options for several possible emergency scenarios, said a senior administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to more freely describe the preparations. Bolten also said that members of Obama's staff will be invited to attend at least one "tabletop exercise" at the White House, a regular simulation of an emergency such as a terrorist attack or disease outbreak.
Obama's team started receiving information about key issues even before Election Day. Those briefings -- and efforts such as establishing side-by-side workspace for Treasury Department's $700 billion financial rescue program -- now are ramping up more each day.
Bolten said this earlier and more intense transition activity is crucial because of the dire times. The goal is something akin to a relay race, where "we are carrying the baton but the next runner will be running before we actually hand them that baton."
Bush aides are also under orders to leave the place tidy, and not repeat the acts of minor vandalism that slightly marred the transition from President Clinton to Bush.
"We will vacuum, we will clean our desks, we will take the gum out from under the conference tables," Bolten joked.
Obama's Heightened Security Turns Neighborhood Into Virtual Fortress
Secret Service has taken over once easy-going Chicago area where president-elect resides.
Reported By FoxNews
President-elect Barack Obama's Chicago neighborhood has become a very different place to live now that Secret Service agents have turned the once easy-going area into a virtual fortress to protect the next president, The Times of London reported.
Assassination fears surrounding Obama, codenamed "Renegade" by his security on the campaign trail, mean that he may become the most heavily guarded president in history. After months of shaking hands with strangers, the President-elect delivered his victory speech from behind bulletproof glass in Chicago's Grant Park.
Streets around his mock-Georgian mansion in enclave by the University of Chicago have been closed. The main thoroughfare has been shut down because it passes his yard.
Visitors to the synagogue that faces his house must put their names on a list 24 hours before they attend so that their identities can be checked.
"I live one block away. I get carded to go on my block," said Adrienne Stone, 33, a U.S. Air Force veteran. "I have become accustomed to the Secret Service being everywhere. I don't get a lot of sleep. There are helicopters overhead. But he deserves this. We have lost too many leaders before their time," she said.
The United States has seen the assassination of four presidents -- Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, William McKinley and John F. Kennedy. Eight others have survived attempts on their lives.
Reported By FoxNews
Reported By FoxNews
President-elect Barack Obama's Chicago neighborhood has become a very different place to live now that Secret Service agents have turned the once easy-going area into a virtual fortress to protect the next president, The Times of London reported.
Assassination fears surrounding Obama, codenamed "Renegade" by his security on the campaign trail, mean that he may become the most heavily guarded president in history. After months of shaking hands with strangers, the President-elect delivered his victory speech from behind bulletproof glass in Chicago's Grant Park.
Streets around his mock-Georgian mansion in enclave by the University of Chicago have been closed. The main thoroughfare has been shut down because it passes his yard.
Visitors to the synagogue that faces his house must put their names on a list 24 hours before they attend so that their identities can be checked.
"I live one block away. I get carded to go on my block," said Adrienne Stone, 33, a U.S. Air Force veteran. "I have become accustomed to the Secret Service being everywhere. I don't get a lot of sleep. There are helicopters overhead. But he deserves this. We have lost too many leaders before their time," she said.
The United States has seen the assassination of four presidents -- Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, William McKinley and John F. Kennedy. Eight others have survived attempts on their lives.
Reported By FoxNews
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Election Night Transcript of Speech Barack Obama Nov. 4th 2008
BARACK OBAMA: Hello, Chicago.
(APPLAUSE)
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.
(APPLAUSE)
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.
(APPLAUSE)
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.
(APPLAUSE)
A little bit earlier this evening, I received an extraordinarily gracious call from Senator McCain.
(APPLAUSE)
Senator 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 Governor 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.
(APPLAUSE)
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...
(APPLAUSE)
... and rode with on the train home to Delaware, the vice president-elect of the United States, Joe Biden.
(APPLAUSE)
And I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last 16 years...
(APPLAUSE)
... the rock of our family, the love of my life, the nation's next first lady...
(APPLAUSE)
... Michelle Obama.
(APPLAUSE)
Sasha and Malia...
(APPLAUSE)
... I love you both more than you can imagine. And you have earned the new puppy that's coming with us...
(LAUGHTER)
... to the new White House.
(APPLAUSE)
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.
(APPLAUSE)
And to my campaign manager, David Plouffe...
(APPLAUSE)
... 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.
(APPLAUSE)
To my chief strategist David Axelrod...
(APPLAUSE)
... who's been a partner with me every step of the way. To the best campaign team ever assembled in the history of politics...
(APPLAUSE)
... 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...
(APPLAUSE)
... 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.
(APPLAUSE)
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.
(APPLAUSE)
AUDIENCE: Yes we can! Yes we can! Yes we can!
OBAMA: 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.
(APPLAUSE)
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.
(APPLAUSE)
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.
(APPLAUSE)
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.
(APPLAUSE)
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.
(APPLAUSE)
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.
AUDIENCE: Yes we can.
OBAMA: 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.
AUDIENCE: Yes we can.
OBAMA: 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.
AUDIENCE: Yes we can.
OBAMA: 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.
AUDIENCE: Yes we can.
OBAMA: 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.
(APPLAUSE)
Thank you. God bless you. And may God bless the United States of America.
(APPLAUSE)
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.
(APPLAUSE)
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.
(APPLAUSE)
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.
(APPLAUSE)
A little bit earlier this evening, I received an extraordinarily gracious call from Senator McCain.
(APPLAUSE)
Senator 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 Governor 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.
(APPLAUSE)
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...
(APPLAUSE)
... and rode with on the train home to Delaware, the vice president-elect of the United States, Joe Biden.
(APPLAUSE)
And I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last 16 years...
(APPLAUSE)
... the rock of our family, the love of my life, the nation's next first lady...
(APPLAUSE)
... Michelle Obama.
(APPLAUSE)
Sasha and Malia...
(APPLAUSE)
... I love you both more than you can imagine. And you have earned the new puppy that's coming with us...
(LAUGHTER)
... to the new White House.
(APPLAUSE)
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.
(APPLAUSE)
And to my campaign manager, David Plouffe...
(APPLAUSE)
... 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.
(APPLAUSE)
To my chief strategist David Axelrod...
(APPLAUSE)
... who's been a partner with me every step of the way. To the best campaign team ever assembled in the history of politics...
(APPLAUSE)
... 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...
(APPLAUSE)
... 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.
(APPLAUSE)
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.
(APPLAUSE)
AUDIENCE: Yes we can! Yes we can! Yes we can!
OBAMA: 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.
(APPLAUSE)
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.
(APPLAUSE)
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.
(APPLAUSE)
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.
(APPLAUSE)
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.
(APPLAUSE)
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.
AUDIENCE: Yes we can.
OBAMA: 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.
AUDIENCE: Yes we can.
OBAMA: 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.
AUDIENCE: Yes we can.
OBAMA: 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.
AUDIENCE: Yes we can.
OBAMA: 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.
(APPLAUSE)
Thank you. God bless you. And may God bless the United States of America.
Saturday, November 01, 2008
Closing arguments against the Presidential Candidate Senator Barack Obama
Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury. It now becomes my duty, as well as my privilege, to address you on behalf of the RNC, people who cling to their Guns and Religion, all of the Joe the Plumbers, and regular Voters all across the United States. This case against Senator Obama and the evidence you will hear today is very compelling. You will hear in Senator Obama’s own words talk about his relationships with Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayers, his refusal too admit that he was close friends with an unrepentant terrorist. We will also hear from The Jeremiah Wright in his distaste for the American way of life as well as here from Senator Obama on his denials that Jeremiah Wright said any of those horrible things about Americans. This case will also show when he was a community organizer that he sat on the Board with Bill Ayers.
Not willing to salute the U.S Flag
The rise of the “ONE”
OR
Country First
Democrats vs. Obama
Barack Obama the Community Organizer
Obama's Priest
Father Micheal Pfleger, Attacks Clinton
Obama's ChurchSays America Rapes BlackPeople; AttacksHillary
Best of Jeremiah Wright's Sermons
Obama Will Not Denounce Church
'The View' Audience Angry At Obama's Lies
Another Obama mentor, Dr. Khalid al-Mansour, calls for the murder of white people.
Joe Biden Ads
Joe Biden 2008 Final Edition
We're not electing Barack Obama to be Class president
BIDEN SAYS AD MOCKING MCCAIN WAS TERRIBLE by Associated Press Monday, September 22, 2008
Even Joe Biden does not believe in Barack Obama!
Hillary Clinton Campaign AD 3 A.M
>
CNN Busted Obama For LYING On His Ads About McCain
He is not the “ONE”
Barack Hussein Obama refuses to salute US flag
The evidence against Senator Obama is very strong and I hope once you see the tapes you will reject his Presidential bid.
Get out and Vote………………… this Man is Not Fit To Be President.
Part 2 Closing arguments against the Presidential Candidate Senator Barack Obama
Obama's Tax Cut
Obama states he will give a tax cut to 95% of voters out there, but what he doesn't tell you that 40% of those voters ( 55 million of them ) don't pay taxes now. So its not really a tax cut but a an extension of welfare.
Hitting Big Oil with a Win Full Tax credit:
The last time this country experimented with such a tax was the Crude Oil Windfall Profit Tax Act of 1980. According to a 1990 Congressional Research Service study, the tax depressed the domestic oil industry, increased foreign imports and raised only a tiny fraction of the revenue forecasted. It stunted domestic production of oil by 3% to 6% and created a surge in foreign imports, from 8% to 16%.
So big business or small business is not a friend to obama because his plan for growing America’s economy to say that we need to tax excess profits from any American business that grows fast and does well and then redistribute that money to average American folk is ok to do, but look at where we are at right now today, corporations closing down, big corporations lying off thousands of employees.
Obama wants to increase capital Gains Tax, even President Bill Clinton saw the down side the down side to raising capital Gains he lowered it from 28% to 20% the fact is since 1986 the top 1% has paid 23% in 1986, 33% in 2003 and 40% in 2007. How much more should we spread the wealth? How is Obama to going to stop corporations from passing those taxes to taxpayers in the prices of consumer goods? Think about it.
Then came joe the Plumber
Other Americans relating to Joe the Plumber
Other Americans relating to Joe the Plumber
Bill Clinton and John McCain on the Mortgage Crisis
Obama talking about his teen drug use
Obama: "Small towns cling to guns or religion"
Barack Hussein Obama refuses to salute US flag
The evidence against Senator Obama is very strong and I hope once you see the tapes you will reject his Presidential bid.
Get out and Vote………………… this Man is Not Fit To Be President.
Obama states he will give a tax cut to 95% of voters out there, but what he doesn't tell you that 40% of those voters ( 55 million of them ) don't pay taxes now. So its not really a tax cut but a an extension of welfare.
Hitting Big Oil with a Win Full Tax credit:
The last time this country experimented with such a tax was the Crude Oil Windfall Profit Tax Act of 1980. According to a 1990 Congressional Research Service study, the tax depressed the domestic oil industry, increased foreign imports and raised only a tiny fraction of the revenue forecasted. It stunted domestic production of oil by 3% to 6% and created a surge in foreign imports, from 8% to 16%.
So big business or small business is not a friend to obama because his plan for growing America’s economy to say that we need to tax excess profits from any American business that grows fast and does well and then redistribute that money to average American folk is ok to do, but look at where we are at right now today, corporations closing down, big corporations lying off thousands of employees.
Obama wants to increase capital Gains Tax, even President Bill Clinton saw the down side the down side to raising capital Gains he lowered it from 28% to 20% the fact is since 1986 the top 1% has paid 23% in 1986, 33% in 2003 and 40% in 2007. How much more should we spread the wealth? How is Obama to going to stop corporations from passing those taxes to taxpayers in the prices of consumer goods? Think about it.
Then came joe the Plumber
Other Americans relating to Joe the Plumber
Other Americans relating to Joe the Plumber
Bill Clinton and John McCain on the Mortgage Crisis
Obama talking about his teen drug use
Obama: "Small towns cling to guns or religion"
Barack Hussein Obama refuses to salute US flag
The evidence against Senator Obama is very strong and I hope once you see the tapes you will reject his Presidential bid.
Get out and Vote………………… this Man is Not Fit To Be President.
Obama Lays Plans to Kill Expectations After Election Victory
Confident in an Election Day win, the campaign looks to lower supporters' expectations on concerns their hopes of 'change' are unrealistic, a senior aide says
By Tim Reid, The Times of London
Barack Obama's senior advisers have drawn up plans to lower expectations for his presidency if he wins next week's election, amid concerns that many of his euphoric supporters are harboring unrealistic hopes of what he can achieve.
The sudden financial crisis and the prospect of a deep and painful recession have increased the urgency inside the Obama team to bring people down to earth, after a campaign in which his soaring rhetoric and promises of "hope" and "change" are now confronted with the reality of a stricken economy.
One senior adviser told The Times that the first few weeks of the transition, immediately after the election, were critical, "so there's not a vast mood swing from exhilaration and euphoria to despair."
The aide said that Obama himself was the first to realize that expectations risked being inflated.
In an interview with a Colorado radio station, Obama appeared to be engaged already in expectation lowering. Asked about his goals for the first hundred days, he said he would need more time to tackle such big and costly issues as health care reform, global warming and Iraq.
"The first hundred days is going to be important, but it's probably going to be the first thousand days that makes the difference," he said. He has also been reminding crowds in recent days how "hard" it will be to achieve his goals, and that it will take time.
"I won't stand here and pretend that any of this will be easy -- especially now," Obama told a rally in Sarasota, Florida, yesterday, citing "the cost of this economic crisis, and the cost of the war in Iraq." Obama's transition team is headed by John Podesta, a Washington veteran and a former chief-of-staff to Bill Clinton. He has spent months overseeing a virtual Democratic government-in-exile to plan a smooth transition should Obama emerge victorious next week.
The plans are so far advanced that an Obama Cabinet has been largely decided upon, with the expectation that most of his senior appointments could be announced shortly after election day.
By Tim Reid, The Times of London
Barack Obama's senior advisers have drawn up plans to lower expectations for his presidency if he wins next week's election, amid concerns that many of his euphoric supporters are harboring unrealistic hopes of what he can achieve.
The sudden financial crisis and the prospect of a deep and painful recession have increased the urgency inside the Obama team to bring people down to earth, after a campaign in which his soaring rhetoric and promises of "hope" and "change" are now confronted with the reality of a stricken economy.
One senior adviser told The Times that the first few weeks of the transition, immediately after the election, were critical, "so there's not a vast mood swing from exhilaration and euphoria to despair."
The aide said that Obama himself was the first to realize that expectations risked being inflated.
In an interview with a Colorado radio station, Obama appeared to be engaged already in expectation lowering. Asked about his goals for the first hundred days, he said he would need more time to tackle such big and costly issues as health care reform, global warming and Iraq.
"The first hundred days is going to be important, but it's probably going to be the first thousand days that makes the difference," he said. He has also been reminding crowds in recent days how "hard" it will be to achieve his goals, and that it will take time.
"I won't stand here and pretend that any of this will be easy -- especially now," Obama told a rally in Sarasota, Florida, yesterday, citing "the cost of this economic crisis, and the cost of the war in Iraq." Obama's transition team is headed by John Podesta, a Washington veteran and a former chief-of-staff to Bill Clinton. He has spent months overseeing a virtual Democratic government-in-exile to plan a smooth transition should Obama emerge victorious next week.
The plans are so far advanced that an Obama Cabinet has been largely decided upon, with the expectation that most of his senior appointments could be announced shortly after election day.
Obama's Aunt Reportedly Living Illegally in Boston
The Illinois senator's aunt has been residing in Boston public housing since her request for asylum was denied four years ago.
WASHINGTON -- Barack Obama's aunt, a Kenyan woman who has been quietly living in public housing in Boston, is in the United States illegally after an immigration judge rejected her request for asylum four years ago, The Associated Press has learned.
Zeituni Onyango, 56, referred to as "Aunti Zeituni" in Obama's memoir, was instructed to leave the United States by a U.S. immigration judge who denied her asylum request, a person familiar with the matter told the AP late Friday. This person spoke on condition of anonymity because no one was authorized to discuss Onyango's case.
Information about the deportation case was disclosed and confirmed by two separate sources, one of them a federal law enforcment official. The information they made available is known to officials in the federal government, but the AP could not establish whether anyone at a political level in the Bush administration or in the McCain campaign had been involved in its release.
Onyango's refusal to leave the country would represent an administrative, non-criminal violation of U.S. immigration law, meaning such cases are handled outside the criminal court system. Estimates vary, but many experts believe there are more than 10 million such immigrants in the United States.
The AP could not reach Onyango immediately for comment. No one answered the telephone number listed in her name late Friday. It was unclear why her request for asylum was rejected in 2004.
Onyango is not a relative whom Obama has discussed in campaign appearances and, unlike Obama's father and grandmother, is not someone who has been part of the public discussion about his personal life.
A spokeswoman for U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, Kelly Nantel, said the government does not comment on an individual's citizenship status or immigration case.
Onyango's case -- coming to light just days before the presidential election -- led to an unusual nationwide directive within Immigrations and Customs Enforcement requiring any deportations prior to Tuesday's election to be approved at least at the level of ICE regional directors, the U.S. law enforcement official told the AP.
The unusual directive suggests that the Bush administration is sensitive to the political implications of Onyango's case coming to light so close to the election.
One of the sources acknowledged he was not a supporter of Obama or John McCain and said he has no plans to vote on Tuesday. He said that was not a motive for releasing the information.
Kenya is in eastern Africa between Somalia and Tanzania. The country has been fractured in violence in recent years, including a period of two months of bloodshed after December 2007 that killed 1,500 people.
The disclosure about Onyango came just one day after Obama's presidential campaign confirmed to the Times of London that Onyango, who has lived quietly in public housing in South Boston for five years, was Obama's half aunt on his father's side.
It was not immediately clear how Onyango might have qualified for public housing with a standing deportation order.
WASHINGTON -- Barack Obama's aunt, a Kenyan woman who has been quietly living in public housing in Boston, is in the United States illegally after an immigration judge rejected her request for asylum four years ago, The Associated Press has learned.
Zeituni Onyango, 56, referred to as "Aunti Zeituni" in Obama's memoir, was instructed to leave the United States by a U.S. immigration judge who denied her asylum request, a person familiar with the matter told the AP late Friday. This person spoke on condition of anonymity because no one was authorized to discuss Onyango's case.
Information about the deportation case was disclosed and confirmed by two separate sources, one of them a federal law enforcment official. The information they made available is known to officials in the federal government, but the AP could not establish whether anyone at a political level in the Bush administration or in the McCain campaign had been involved in its release.
Onyango's refusal to leave the country would represent an administrative, non-criminal violation of U.S. immigration law, meaning such cases are handled outside the criminal court system. Estimates vary, but many experts believe there are more than 10 million such immigrants in the United States.
The AP could not reach Onyango immediately for comment. No one answered the telephone number listed in her name late Friday. It was unclear why her request for asylum was rejected in 2004.
Onyango is not a relative whom Obama has discussed in campaign appearances and, unlike Obama's father and grandmother, is not someone who has been part of the public discussion about his personal life.
A spokeswoman for U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, Kelly Nantel, said the government does not comment on an individual's citizenship status or immigration case.
Onyango's case -- coming to light just days before the presidential election -- led to an unusual nationwide directive within Immigrations and Customs Enforcement requiring any deportations prior to Tuesday's election to be approved at least at the level of ICE regional directors, the U.S. law enforcement official told the AP.
The unusual directive suggests that the Bush administration is sensitive to the political implications of Onyango's case coming to light so close to the election.
One of the sources acknowledged he was not a supporter of Obama or John McCain and said he has no plans to vote on Tuesday. He said that was not a motive for releasing the information.
Kenya is in eastern Africa between Somalia and Tanzania. The country has been fractured in violence in recent years, including a period of two months of bloodshed after December 2007 that killed 1,500 people.
The disclosure about Onyango came just one day after Obama's presidential campaign confirmed to the Times of London that Onyango, who has lived quietly in public housing in South Boston for five years, was Obama's half aunt on his father's side.
It was not immediately clear how Onyango might have qualified for public housing with a standing deportation order.
Now it's swinging polls not hanging chads that scare Democrats
Barack Obama is deploying an awesome battery of firepower to blow out a faint flicker of hope in John McCain's campaign that he can yet pull off an unlikely comeback in the final days of this election.
The Democratic nominee spent yesterday hopscotching through battleground states where he hammered home his message on the economy, the issue of greatest concern to voters and on which some polls suggest that McCain has begun to close the gap.
He told a rally in Sarasota, Florida: “John McCain has stood with President Bush every step of the way. And you've got to ask yourself: why would we keep on driving down this dead-end street?”
On Wednesday night he blanketed TV networks with a half-hour commercial designed to allay concerns about electing an inexperienced — and black — president. The advert drew 26.4 million viewers to three major networks, according to Nielsen Media Research.
How America's presidents rated
The Times has ranked all 42 US presidents - was Bush Jr. bottom? Did JFK beat Abraham Lincoln?
Related Links
Obama lays plans to deaden expectations
Republican civil war breaks out behind McCain
Later, at a midnight rally with 35,000 people in Kissimmee, he took the stage with Bill Clinton, who declared: “Folks, we can't fool with this. Our country is hanging in the balance. This man should be our president.”
The heavy Democratic bombardment of Florida will continue tomorrow when Al Gore campaigns in the state that, by the narrowest of margins, destroyed his presidential dream eight years ago.
Republicans selectively point to national polls that show Mr Obama's lead is as low as 3 per cent, although others suggest it is five times larger. Mr McCain declared in the city of Defiance, Ohio, yesterday: “We're a few points behind but we're coming back.”
One explanation for the wide disparity in surveys is that polling organisations make different assumptions about “likely voters”, with those who give Mr Obama a large lead believing that there will be a surge in turnout among African-Americans and young people. Figures for early voting in key states including Iowa, North Carolina, Florida, Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada, suggest that the Democrat candidate is already benefiting.
But Mr McCain's chief pollster, Bill McInturff, issued a memo this week, arguing: “All signs say we are headed to an election that may easily be too close to call.” He said that expected gains for Mr Obama among black and young people would be offset by increased turnout among rural and less-educated voters. “Wal-Mart women” with no education and household incomes below $60,000 (£36,400) are “swinging back, solidly,” he claimed.
Some Republicans also say that polls tend to overestimate support for black candidates — notably Tom Bradley, who lost a 1982 race for Governor of California — when they are up against white opponents.
David Axelrod, Mr Obama's chief strategist, said: “It's unreasonable to expect anyone to win this race by more than three to five points. It will tighten, that is the nature of these contests. But do I see what the Republicans claim to be seeing? No. State by state this is going very well.”
Mr McCain has widened his attacks on Mr Obama in recent days to complain that The Los Angeles Times is withholding publication of a video tape showing his rival meeting a Palestinian activist, Rashid Khalidi. At the same time Republicans have launched a new TV advert, with Middle Eastern music playing in the background, highlighting Mr Obama's stated wish to hold talks with Iranian leaders. This is being seen as a possible nudge to voters who still believe false rumours that he is a Muslim.
But Mr McCain has told CNN that race would not decide this election and focused his attention yesterday firmly on economic issues such as Mr Obama's proposed tax increases, which the Republican has suggested are reminiscent of socialism.
Mr Obama is showing signs of sensitivity on this issue, telling his rally in Florida: “I love rich people, I want all of you to be rich.” He added: “I don't know what's next. By the end of the week, he'll be accusing me of being a secret communist because I shared my toys in kindergarten.”
Reported by The Times
The Democratic nominee spent yesterday hopscotching through battleground states where he hammered home his message on the economy, the issue of greatest concern to voters and on which some polls suggest that McCain has begun to close the gap.
He told a rally in Sarasota, Florida: “John McCain has stood with President Bush every step of the way. And you've got to ask yourself: why would we keep on driving down this dead-end street?”
On Wednesday night he blanketed TV networks with a half-hour commercial designed to allay concerns about electing an inexperienced — and black — president. The advert drew 26.4 million viewers to three major networks, according to Nielsen Media Research.
How America's presidents rated
The Times has ranked all 42 US presidents - was Bush Jr. bottom? Did JFK beat Abraham Lincoln?
Related Links
Obama lays plans to deaden expectations
Republican civil war breaks out behind McCain
Later, at a midnight rally with 35,000 people in Kissimmee, he took the stage with Bill Clinton, who declared: “Folks, we can't fool with this. Our country is hanging in the balance. This man should be our president.”
The heavy Democratic bombardment of Florida will continue tomorrow when Al Gore campaigns in the state that, by the narrowest of margins, destroyed his presidential dream eight years ago.
Republicans selectively point to national polls that show Mr Obama's lead is as low as 3 per cent, although others suggest it is five times larger. Mr McCain declared in the city of Defiance, Ohio, yesterday: “We're a few points behind but we're coming back.”
One explanation for the wide disparity in surveys is that polling organisations make different assumptions about “likely voters”, with those who give Mr Obama a large lead believing that there will be a surge in turnout among African-Americans and young people. Figures for early voting in key states including Iowa, North Carolina, Florida, Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada, suggest that the Democrat candidate is already benefiting.
But Mr McCain's chief pollster, Bill McInturff, issued a memo this week, arguing: “All signs say we are headed to an election that may easily be too close to call.” He said that expected gains for Mr Obama among black and young people would be offset by increased turnout among rural and less-educated voters. “Wal-Mart women” with no education and household incomes below $60,000 (£36,400) are “swinging back, solidly,” he claimed.
Some Republicans also say that polls tend to overestimate support for black candidates — notably Tom Bradley, who lost a 1982 race for Governor of California — when they are up against white opponents.
David Axelrod, Mr Obama's chief strategist, said: “It's unreasonable to expect anyone to win this race by more than three to five points. It will tighten, that is the nature of these contests. But do I see what the Republicans claim to be seeing? No. State by state this is going very well.”
Mr McCain has widened his attacks on Mr Obama in recent days to complain that The Los Angeles Times is withholding publication of a video tape showing his rival meeting a Palestinian activist, Rashid Khalidi. At the same time Republicans have launched a new TV advert, with Middle Eastern music playing in the background, highlighting Mr Obama's stated wish to hold talks with Iranian leaders. This is being seen as a possible nudge to voters who still believe false rumours that he is a Muslim.
But Mr McCain has told CNN that race would not decide this election and focused his attention yesterday firmly on economic issues such as Mr Obama's proposed tax increases, which the Republican has suggested are reminiscent of socialism.
Mr Obama is showing signs of sensitivity on this issue, telling his rally in Florida: “I love rich people, I want all of you to be rich.” He added: “I don't know what's next. By the end of the week, he'll be accusing me of being a secret communist because I shared my toys in kindergarten.”
Reported by The Times
Wide Disparities Between Polls Makes Careful Interpretation Necessary
As the presidential candidates travel from state to state trying to win over voters, pollsters across the country are just as relentless in reflecting the public's opinion of the candidate's efforts.
While recent polls indicate Democratic nominee Barack Obama has a lead over Republican rival John McCain, there has been wide disparity in the numbers, with some showing the gap as narrow as 4 percentage points and others putting it at as wide at 14 points.
With wide disparities between two polls, how do analysts truly see which candidate is in the lead?
Careful interpretation is the expert's answer. Billionaire investor Warren Buffett once said that "A public-opinion poll is no substitute for thought." However, for those who make their living giving thought to the numbers, public-opinion polls are not a substitute for, but rather food for thought. For election forecasters, they are a central component of a tricky formula.
In an interview with RTTNews, Professor James Campbell of the State University at Buffalo in New York, who has his own election forecasting model, outlined some of the inherent flaws of polls. One such discrepancy has to do with the difference between surveying registered voters and likely voters.
"Most of the polls have tried to measure what registered voters are thinking and that is different than what registered voters are thinking of that time," he said. "I think that the history of that attempt has not been very good and I think the pollsters acknowledge that."
Typically, there are more registered Democrats then registered Republicans, making them overrepresented in polls of registered voters, Campbell said. He suggests focusing on likely voters, or at least separating the results of likely and registered voter polls.
However, lacking that separation, Campbell said he thinks that polls will lean in Obama's favor.
Specifically, Campbell cited a CBS/New York Times poll from earlier in the week that showed Obama with a 14 percentage point lead over rival John McCain.
"I think the CBS/NY Times Poll has always been on the high side for Democrats…a little bit erratic too," he said.
While there will be sampling errors in any poll, and "even by the same organization or the same method is going to yield a little bit different results," Campbell said that it is good to take a look at the average. For his election forecast he relied on Gallup.
Averaging various polls is also recommended by Professor Robert Erikson of Columbia University, who along with Temple University Professor Christopher Wlezien works on election forecasting. Speaking with RTTNews, Erikson said that in his forecast he and Wlezien used all polls, or "whatever was available."
When asked how to reconcile the differences between polls, Erikson said that there is no real way to know if one poll is better than another.
"You don't know which ones are the bad ones," he said. "We just pick an average."
That average came from 30 or 40 polls per month, Erikson said.
Both Campbell and Erikson's early predictors are models that take into account a wide variety of factors. However, their forecasts selected different candidates. Not taking into account the events of the past few weeks, Campbell's model predicted a McCain victory, while the Erikson- Wlezien predicted Obama.
Although Campbell's forecast selected McCain to win the popular vote, there was an unforeseen event that has been the equivalent of "a meteor hitting the campaign." That event - the financial crisis - has seemed to help Obama, boosting the Illinois senator in the polls in the last few weeks.
"Nobody was anticipating this, none of the forecasting model," Campbell said. Calling it an "extremely unusual case," he said that the election has been greatly changed due to the market meltdown.
Erikson said that there is a clear correlation to the decline in the economy and the increase in support for Obama.
"The economy has gone downward the last month, Obama support has gone up," Erikson said.
Overall, Erikson expects Obama to win 52 or 53 percent of the two party vote. He gives McCain a less than 1 in 10 chance for a comeback, but greater than 1 in 20.
Despite his election forecasting model's prediction, the financial crisis has led Campbell to also predict Obama as the victor on November 4th. When asked he thinks McCain can engineer a comeback, Campbell said it was a long shot.
"Probably not, but his only chance is to try," he said.
Campbell referenced the 1948 presidential election, when incumbent president Harry Truman orchestrated a stunning upset of rival Thomas Dewey. However, the financial shock is the economic equivalent of a terrorist attack the size of September 11th in the middle of the campaign, he said, making this a "very pro-Democratic year."
Erikson concedes that although McCain has a considerable obstacle, it is "not impossible to overcome."
Reported by RTTNews
While recent polls indicate Democratic nominee Barack Obama has a lead over Republican rival John McCain, there has been wide disparity in the numbers, with some showing the gap as narrow as 4 percentage points and others putting it at as wide at 14 points.
With wide disparities between two polls, how do analysts truly see which candidate is in the lead?
Careful interpretation is the expert's answer. Billionaire investor Warren Buffett once said that "A public-opinion poll is no substitute for thought." However, for those who make their living giving thought to the numbers, public-opinion polls are not a substitute for, but rather food for thought. For election forecasters, they are a central component of a tricky formula.
In an interview with RTTNews, Professor James Campbell of the State University at Buffalo in New York, who has his own election forecasting model, outlined some of the inherent flaws of polls. One such discrepancy has to do with the difference between surveying registered voters and likely voters.
"Most of the polls have tried to measure what registered voters are thinking and that is different than what registered voters are thinking of that time," he said. "I think that the history of that attempt has not been very good and I think the pollsters acknowledge that."
Typically, there are more registered Democrats then registered Republicans, making them overrepresented in polls of registered voters, Campbell said. He suggests focusing on likely voters, or at least separating the results of likely and registered voter polls.
However, lacking that separation, Campbell said he thinks that polls will lean in Obama's favor.
Specifically, Campbell cited a CBS/New York Times poll from earlier in the week that showed Obama with a 14 percentage point lead over rival John McCain.
"I think the CBS/NY Times Poll has always been on the high side for Democrats…a little bit erratic too," he said.
While there will be sampling errors in any poll, and "even by the same organization or the same method is going to yield a little bit different results," Campbell said that it is good to take a look at the average. For his election forecast he relied on Gallup.
Averaging various polls is also recommended by Professor Robert Erikson of Columbia University, who along with Temple University Professor Christopher Wlezien works on election forecasting. Speaking with RTTNews, Erikson said that in his forecast he and Wlezien used all polls, or "whatever was available."
When asked how to reconcile the differences between polls, Erikson said that there is no real way to know if one poll is better than another.
"You don't know which ones are the bad ones," he said. "We just pick an average."
That average came from 30 or 40 polls per month, Erikson said.
Both Campbell and Erikson's early predictors are models that take into account a wide variety of factors. However, their forecasts selected different candidates. Not taking into account the events of the past few weeks, Campbell's model predicted a McCain victory, while the Erikson- Wlezien predicted Obama.
Although Campbell's forecast selected McCain to win the popular vote, there was an unforeseen event that has been the equivalent of "a meteor hitting the campaign." That event - the financial crisis - has seemed to help Obama, boosting the Illinois senator in the polls in the last few weeks.
"Nobody was anticipating this, none of the forecasting model," Campbell said. Calling it an "extremely unusual case," he said that the election has been greatly changed due to the market meltdown.
Erikson said that there is a clear correlation to the decline in the economy and the increase in support for Obama.
"The economy has gone downward the last month, Obama support has gone up," Erikson said.
Overall, Erikson expects Obama to win 52 or 53 percent of the two party vote. He gives McCain a less than 1 in 10 chance for a comeback, but greater than 1 in 20.
Despite his election forecasting model's prediction, the financial crisis has led Campbell to also predict Obama as the victor on November 4th. When asked he thinks McCain can engineer a comeback, Campbell said it was a long shot.
"Probably not, but his only chance is to try," he said.
Campbell referenced the 1948 presidential election, when incumbent president Harry Truman orchestrated a stunning upset of rival Thomas Dewey. However, the financial shock is the economic equivalent of a terrorist attack the size of September 11th in the middle of the campaign, he said, making this a "very pro-Democratic year."
Erikson concedes that although McCain has a considerable obstacle, it is "not impossible to overcome."
Reported by RTTNews
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Obama’s infomercial with paid Actors ?
Its quite clear our economy is in the tank and Americans are struggling, we didn’t need to see that in his infomercial by paid Actors. What we needed to hear was clear polices that will make the future for all Americans better. Obama didn’t breakdown his policy and truly explain his Tax plan. That’s what I was waiting for, his assertion that taking from the rich and giving it the middle class or poor makes no sense. Right now 45% of all Americans pay no taxes whatsoever, nothing. So the 95% figure Obama uses means nothing, and that part he should of explained. A year ago he stated folks making less then 300k would see a tax cut then it went to 250k then to 200k in his infomercial and Joe Biden the other day stated 150k, what is it, what’s the plan. It sounds like there just shooting from the hip, There is no substance to his plan.
Obama quote: "Here's what I'll do. Cut taxes for every working family making less than $200,000 a year. Give businesses a tax credit for every new employee that they hire right here in the U.S. over the next two years and eliminate tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas. Help homeowners who are making a good faith effort to pay their mortgages, by freezing foreclosures for 90 days. And just like after 9-11, we'll provide low-cost loans to help small businesses pay their workers and keep their doors open. "
So how will he cut those taxes for families making less then 200k ? how much of a tax credit is he going to give companies for every new employee ?, and how much will it cost ? tax breaks for companies to keep jobs from going over seas, and how much? freezing foreclosures for 90 days, how do you do this when these people are out of work or they qualified for a Stated Income loan and can’t qualify going Full Doc using paystubs.
Obama only gives talking points with no hard facts or figures on how he is going to accomplish this goal ?.
Obama quote: "That's why my health care plan includes improving information technology, requires coverage for preventive care and pre-existing conditions and lowers health care costs for the typical family by $2,500 a year."
Obama hopes that by spending $50 billion over five years on electronic medical records and by improving access to proven disease management programs, among other steps, consumers will end up saving money. But his plan does not lower premiums by $2,500. his using smoke and mirriors on the voters.
Obama quote: "I also believe every American has a right to affordable health care."
Ok, his statement “I also believe” is not the same meaning as guaranteed health care coverage for all. He mentions children but not adults.
The 5 million spent on this infomercial would have been better spent on giving 10,000 familes currently having a tough time making there house payments a check for $500.00 dollars each. This would have been a better way of him to explain how spreading the wealth works.
Obama quote: "Here's what I'll do. Cut taxes for every working family making less than $200,000 a year. Give businesses a tax credit for every new employee that they hire right here in the U.S. over the next two years and eliminate tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas. Help homeowners who are making a good faith effort to pay their mortgages, by freezing foreclosures for 90 days. And just like after 9-11, we'll provide low-cost loans to help small businesses pay their workers and keep their doors open. "
So how will he cut those taxes for families making less then 200k ? how much of a tax credit is he going to give companies for every new employee ?, and how much will it cost ? tax breaks for companies to keep jobs from going over seas, and how much? freezing foreclosures for 90 days, how do you do this when these people are out of work or they qualified for a Stated Income loan and can’t qualify going Full Doc using paystubs.
Obama only gives talking points with no hard facts or figures on how he is going to accomplish this goal ?.
Obama quote: "That's why my health care plan includes improving information technology, requires coverage for preventive care and pre-existing conditions and lowers health care costs for the typical family by $2,500 a year."
Obama hopes that by spending $50 billion over five years on electronic medical records and by improving access to proven disease management programs, among other steps, consumers will end up saving money. But his plan does not lower premiums by $2,500. his using smoke and mirriors on the voters.
Obama quote: "I also believe every American has a right to affordable health care."
Ok, his statement “I also believe” is not the same meaning as guaranteed health care coverage for all. He mentions children but not adults.
The 5 million spent on this infomercial would have been better spent on giving 10,000 familes currently having a tough time making there house payments a check for $500.00 dollars each. This would have been a better way of him to explain how spreading the wealth works.
Obama Speaks Of Rev. Wright In This 1995 Interview
In a 1995 interview, Barack Obama lavished praise on Reverend Jeremiah “God Damn America” Wright, calling him a “wonderful man” and “the best of what the black church has to offer.”
Now lets here from this great church
Now lets here from this great church
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Barack Obama’s night of his first 30 minute infomercial
Barack Obama’s night of his first 30 minute infomercial even has some in his Liberal media talking about Obama’s broken promise to except Public financing In November 2007, in an interview with “common cause” when asked "If you are nominated for President in 2008 and your major opponents agree to forgo private funding in the general election campaign, will you participate in the presidential public financing system?" Obama answered Yes.
"In February 2007 Obama wrote: I proposed a novel way to preserve the strength of the public financing system in the 2008 election. My plan requires both major party candidates to agree on a fundraising truce, return excess money from donors, and stay within the public financing system for the general election. My proposal followed announcements by some presidential candidates that they would forgo public financing so they could raise unlimited funds in the general election. The Federal Election Commission ruled the proposal legal, and Senator John McCain (R-AZ) has already pledged to accept this fundraising pledge. If I am the Democratic nominee, I will aggressively pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee to preserve a publicly financed general election."
June 19, 2008 Sen. Barack Obama announced that he would not enter into the public financing system, despite a previous pledge to do so.
This shouldn’t come as a surprise to any of us; Barack Obama has made many pledges in his run for state office of Illinois and his U.S Senate seat election where promises were broken. The change candidate does change his mind a lot on breaking promises with his voters.
Despite all that, and despite his lead in national and most battleground polls, the campaign decided to plunk down between $3 and $5 million to buy half-hour blocks of time at 8 p.m. tonight on NBC, CBS, FOX, Univision, BET, MSNBC and TV One for delivery of his final argument to the voters.
I must give kudos to ABC for not going along with this nonsense, if Fox had not did this they would of been called Racist or in the bag for McCain so I believe this the only reason they are running this ad of Obama.
Today, Obama is dominating the television ad wars. As of Oct. 22, Obama placed 150% more ads than McCain in Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia, according to the Nielsen Co.
Could it seem to some voters like overkill?
I believe so, if Obama sits down and can tell us his real intentions on his tax cut without the same talking points he tends to say all the time and get into substance by breaking down the numbers like Ross Perot did in 2002 he my do well, but he won’t. The biggest risk in airing the infomercials, according to the strategists, is that Obama could irritate people by interrupting their regular television viewing habits.
Perot’s programs drew an average audience of 11.6 million viewers, or 4.6 percent of viewers nationwide, according to Nielsen. His one simulcast on ABC and CBS on Nov. 2, 1992 attracted 26 million viewers, Nielsen found.
Quote from Campbell Brown CNN One year ago, he made a promise. He pledged to accept public financing and to work with the Republican nominee to ensure that they both operated within those limits. Then it became clear to Sen. Obama and his campaign that he was going to be able to raise on his own far more cash than he would get with public financing. So Obama went back on his word. He broke his promise and he explained it by arguing that the system is broken and that Republicans know how to work the system to their advantage. He argued he would need all that cash to fight the ruthless attacks of 527s, those independent groups like the Swift Boat Veterans. It's funny though, those attacks never really materialized. For this last week, Sen. Obama will be rolling in dough. His commercials, his get-out-the-vote effort will, as the pundits have said, dwarf the McCain campaign's final push. But in fairness, you have to admit, he is getting there in part on a broken promise.
Quote from Obama supporter today
DEMS' CAMPAIGN-FINANCE HYPOCRISY
By BOB KERREY
ON the question of public funding of presidential campaigns, we Democrats who strongly support Sen. Barack Obama’s candidacy and who previously supported limits on campaign spending and who haven't objected to Obama's opting out of the presidential funding system face an awkward fact: Either we are hypocrites, or we were wrong to support such limitations in the first place.I'm sad to report that hypocrite is a more accurate label. Bob Kerry
Ross Perot's used his own money his self-financed candidacy tapped national attitudes as a successful Texas businessman with no political experience (he had never held elected office, worked in a bureaucracy, or studied public policy), Perot was the ultimate outsider. Perot's response was aggressive television advertising campaigns, including conventional, 30-second spots and half-hour paid "infomercials." The strategy portrayed Perot as a down-to-earth outsider who was not afraid to discuss issues and present real solutions. Perot frequently focused the infomercials on deficit reduction, his pet project. The presentations often included Perot's colorful graphs and appealing humor.
Am not sure Obama can be so graphic on his policies because his shooting from the hip with the message of change with no real policy. His character is suspect and so is his policy. And his supporter’s don’t care because all they here is the word change, by using the argument he is not committing to anything and if his not committing to anything then he can’t be accused of not keeping any promises.
"In February 2007 Obama wrote: I proposed a novel way to preserve the strength of the public financing system in the 2008 election. My plan requires both major party candidates to agree on a fundraising truce, return excess money from donors, and stay within the public financing system for the general election. My proposal followed announcements by some presidential candidates that they would forgo public financing so they could raise unlimited funds in the general election. The Federal Election Commission ruled the proposal legal, and Senator John McCain (R-AZ) has already pledged to accept this fundraising pledge. If I am the Democratic nominee, I will aggressively pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee to preserve a publicly financed general election."
June 19, 2008 Sen. Barack Obama announced that he would not enter into the public financing system, despite a previous pledge to do so.
This shouldn’t come as a surprise to any of us; Barack Obama has made many pledges in his run for state office of Illinois and his U.S Senate seat election where promises were broken. The change candidate does change his mind a lot on breaking promises with his voters.
Despite all that, and despite his lead in national and most battleground polls, the campaign decided to plunk down between $3 and $5 million to buy half-hour blocks of time at 8 p.m. tonight on NBC, CBS, FOX, Univision, BET, MSNBC and TV One for delivery of his final argument to the voters.
I must give kudos to ABC for not going along with this nonsense, if Fox had not did this they would of been called Racist or in the bag for McCain so I believe this the only reason they are running this ad of Obama.
Today, Obama is dominating the television ad wars. As of Oct. 22, Obama placed 150% more ads than McCain in Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia, according to the Nielsen Co.
Could it seem to some voters like overkill?
I believe so, if Obama sits down and can tell us his real intentions on his tax cut without the same talking points he tends to say all the time and get into substance by breaking down the numbers like Ross Perot did in 2002 he my do well, but he won’t. The biggest risk in airing the infomercials, according to the strategists, is that Obama could irritate people by interrupting their regular television viewing habits.
Perot’s programs drew an average audience of 11.6 million viewers, or 4.6 percent of viewers nationwide, according to Nielsen. His one simulcast on ABC and CBS on Nov. 2, 1992 attracted 26 million viewers, Nielsen found.
Quote from Campbell Brown CNN One year ago, he made a promise. He pledged to accept public financing and to work with the Republican nominee to ensure that they both operated within those limits. Then it became clear to Sen. Obama and his campaign that he was going to be able to raise on his own far more cash than he would get with public financing. So Obama went back on his word. He broke his promise and he explained it by arguing that the system is broken and that Republicans know how to work the system to their advantage. He argued he would need all that cash to fight the ruthless attacks of 527s, those independent groups like the Swift Boat Veterans. It's funny though, those attacks never really materialized. For this last week, Sen. Obama will be rolling in dough. His commercials, his get-out-the-vote effort will, as the pundits have said, dwarf the McCain campaign's final push. But in fairness, you have to admit, he is getting there in part on a broken promise.
Quote from Obama supporter today
DEMS' CAMPAIGN-FINANCE HYPOCRISY
By BOB KERREY
ON the question of public funding of presidential campaigns, we Democrats who strongly support Sen. Barack Obama’s candidacy and who previously supported limits on campaign spending and who haven't objected to Obama's opting out of the presidential funding system face an awkward fact: Either we are hypocrites, or we were wrong to support such limitations in the first place.I'm sad to report that hypocrite is a more accurate label. Bob Kerry
Ross Perot's used his own money his self-financed candidacy tapped national attitudes as a successful Texas businessman with no political experience (he had never held elected office, worked in a bureaucracy, or studied public policy), Perot was the ultimate outsider. Perot's response was aggressive television advertising campaigns, including conventional, 30-second spots and half-hour paid "infomercials." The strategy portrayed Perot as a down-to-earth outsider who was not afraid to discuss issues and present real solutions. Perot frequently focused the infomercials on deficit reduction, his pet project. The presentations often included Perot's colorful graphs and appealing humor.
Am not sure Obama can be so graphic on his policies because his shooting from the hip with the message of change with no real policy. His character is suspect and so is his policy. And his supporter’s don’t care because all they here is the word change, by using the argument he is not committing to anything and if his not committing to anything then he can’t be accused of not keeping any promises.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Obama Refuses to Answer Birth Certificate Lawsuit
A Pennsylvania lawsuit alleging that Barack Obama is not a "natural-born citizen" of the United States took an unusual twist this week, after a federally mandated deadline requiring Obama's lawyers to produce a "vault" copy of his birth certificate expired with no response from Obama or his lawyers.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Obama, in 2001 Interview, Lamented Failure of Civil Rights Movement to Redistribute Wealth
In a radio interview in 2001, Barack Obama said the civil rights movement failed when it became so dependent on the Supreme Court that it never got around to working toward redistributing income.
FoxNews,Drudge Report
A 7-year-old radio interview in which Barack Obama discussed the failure of the Supreme Court to rule on redistributing wealth in its civil rights rulings has given fresh ammunition to critics who say the Democratic presidential candidate has a socialist agenda.
The interview -- conducted by Chicago Public Radio in 2001, while Obama was an Illinois state senator and a law professor at the University of Chicago -- delves into whether the civil rights movement should have gone further than it did, so that when "dispossessed peoples" appealed to the high court on the right to sit at the lunch counter, they should have also appealed for the right to have someone else pay for the meal.
In the interview, Obama said the civil rights movement was victorious in some regards, but failed to create a "redistributive change" in its appeals to the Supreme Court, led at the time by Chief Justice Earl Warren. He suggested that such change should occur at the state legislature level, since the courts did not interpret the U.S. Constitution to permit such change.
"The Supreme Court never ventured into the issues of redistribution of wealth and sort of basic issues of political and economic justice in this society, and to that extent as radical as people try to characterize the Warren Court, it wasn't that radical," Obama said in the interview, a recording of which surfaced on the Internet over the weekend.
"It didn't break free from the essential constraints that were placed by the founding fathers in the Constitution, at least as it has been interpreted.
"And the Warren court interpreted it generally in the same way -- that the Constitution is a document of negative liberties, says what the states can't do to you, says what the federal government can't do to you, but it doesn't say what the federal government or state government must do on your behalf, and that hasn't shifted.
"And I think one of the tragedies of the civil rights movement was that the civil rights movement became so court-focused, I think there was a tendency to lose track of the political and organizing activities on the ground that are able to bring about the coalitions of power through which you bring about redistributive change, and in some ways we still suffer from that," Obama said.
The 2001 interview evokes recent questioning by Joe "The Plumber" Wurzelbacher, the Ohio man who asked Obama about his proposal to raise taxes on people making more than $250,000. Obama told Wurzelbacher he wants to hike taxes on the wealthy so that the government can spread the wealth.
Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton said Monday the comments on the tape have "nothing to do with Obama's economic plan or his plan to give the middle class a tax cut."
"Here are the facts. In the interview, Obama went into extensive detail to explain why the courts should not get into that business of 'redistributing' wealth. Obama's point -- and what he called a tragedy -- was that legal victories in the civil rights led too many people to rely on the courts to change society for the better. That view is shared by conservative judges and legal scholars across the country," Burton said..
"As Obama has said before and written about, he believes that change comes from the bottom up -- not from the corridors of Washington. ... And so Obama's point was simply that if we want to improve economic conditions for people in this country, we should do so by bringing people together at the community level and getting everyone involved in our democratic process," Burton continued.
John McCain's campaign said the tape proves that Obama is too liberal for the White House.
Now we know that the slogans 'change you can believe in' and 'change we need' are code words for Barack Obama's ultimate goal: 'redistributive change,'" said McCain-Palin senior policy adviser Doug Holtz-Eakin.
"Barack Obama expressed his regret that the Supreme Court hadn't been more 'radical' and described as a 'tragedy' the court's refusal to take up 'the issues of redistribution of wealth.' No wonder he wants to appoint judges that legislate from the bench," Holtz-Eakin continued.
National Review reporter Byron York, a FOX News contributor, said the U.S. government already has a progressive tax system that gives money earned by one group to another group, but it's a matter of degree. He added that Obama's outlook on that system hasn't changed.
"It seems clear from listening to this that the Obama of 2001 and probably the Obama of today feels that the government doesn't do that enough, and I think that's probably the big point in this tape," York said.
"You've got to take him at his word," York added. "It seems to me that the tape shows that this is simply a goal he has had for a long time."
In a speech in Cleveland on Monday, McCain said the Obama interview is just another indication that the Democrat wants to increase sharply the amount of government spending.
"Today, he claims he will only tax the rich. But we've seen in the past that he's willing to support taxes that hit people squarely in the middle class, and with a trillion dollars in new spending, the most likely outcome is that everyone who pays taxes will be paying for his spending," McCain said.
FoxNews,Drudge Report
A 7-year-old radio interview in which Barack Obama discussed the failure of the Supreme Court to rule on redistributing wealth in its civil rights rulings has given fresh ammunition to critics who say the Democratic presidential candidate has a socialist agenda.
The interview -- conducted by Chicago Public Radio in 2001, while Obama was an Illinois state senator and a law professor at the University of Chicago -- delves into whether the civil rights movement should have gone further than it did, so that when "dispossessed peoples" appealed to the high court on the right to sit at the lunch counter, they should have also appealed for the right to have someone else pay for the meal.
In the interview, Obama said the civil rights movement was victorious in some regards, but failed to create a "redistributive change" in its appeals to the Supreme Court, led at the time by Chief Justice Earl Warren. He suggested that such change should occur at the state legislature level, since the courts did not interpret the U.S. Constitution to permit such change.
"The Supreme Court never ventured into the issues of redistribution of wealth and sort of basic issues of political and economic justice in this society, and to that extent as radical as people try to characterize the Warren Court, it wasn't that radical," Obama said in the interview, a recording of which surfaced on the Internet over the weekend.
"It didn't break free from the essential constraints that were placed by the founding fathers in the Constitution, at least as it has been interpreted.
"And the Warren court interpreted it generally in the same way -- that the Constitution is a document of negative liberties, says what the states can't do to you, says what the federal government can't do to you, but it doesn't say what the federal government or state government must do on your behalf, and that hasn't shifted.
"And I think one of the tragedies of the civil rights movement was that the civil rights movement became so court-focused, I think there was a tendency to lose track of the political and organizing activities on the ground that are able to bring about the coalitions of power through which you bring about redistributive change, and in some ways we still suffer from that," Obama said.
The 2001 interview evokes recent questioning by Joe "The Plumber" Wurzelbacher, the Ohio man who asked Obama about his proposal to raise taxes on people making more than $250,000. Obama told Wurzelbacher he wants to hike taxes on the wealthy so that the government can spread the wealth.
Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton said Monday the comments on the tape have "nothing to do with Obama's economic plan or his plan to give the middle class a tax cut."
"Here are the facts. In the interview, Obama went into extensive detail to explain why the courts should not get into that business of 'redistributing' wealth. Obama's point -- and what he called a tragedy -- was that legal victories in the civil rights led too many people to rely on the courts to change society for the better. That view is shared by conservative judges and legal scholars across the country," Burton said..
"As Obama has said before and written about, he believes that change comes from the bottom up -- not from the corridors of Washington. ... And so Obama's point was simply that if we want to improve economic conditions for people in this country, we should do so by bringing people together at the community level and getting everyone involved in our democratic process," Burton continued.
John McCain's campaign said the tape proves that Obama is too liberal for the White House.
Now we know that the slogans 'change you can believe in' and 'change we need' are code words for Barack Obama's ultimate goal: 'redistributive change,'" said McCain-Palin senior policy adviser Doug Holtz-Eakin.
"Barack Obama expressed his regret that the Supreme Court hadn't been more 'radical' and described as a 'tragedy' the court's refusal to take up 'the issues of redistribution of wealth.' No wonder he wants to appoint judges that legislate from the bench," Holtz-Eakin continued.
National Review reporter Byron York, a FOX News contributor, said the U.S. government already has a progressive tax system that gives money earned by one group to another group, but it's a matter of degree. He added that Obama's outlook on that system hasn't changed.
"It seems clear from listening to this that the Obama of 2001 and probably the Obama of today feels that the government doesn't do that enough, and I think that's probably the big point in this tape," York said.
"You've got to take him at his word," York added. "It seems to me that the tape shows that this is simply a goal he has had for a long time."
In a speech in Cleveland on Monday, McCain said the Obama interview is just another indication that the Democrat wants to increase sharply the amount of government spending.
"Today, he claims he will only tax the rich. But we've seen in the past that he's willing to support taxes that hit people squarely in the middle class, and with a trillion dollars in new spending, the most likely outcome is that everyone who pays taxes will be paying for his spending," McCain said.
Allies of Palestinians see a friend in Barack Obama
2003 farewell partyLA Times Reported
CHICAGO -- It was a celebration of Palestinian culture -- a night of music, dancing and a dash of politics. Local Arab Americans were bidding farewell to Rashid Khalidi, an internationally known scholar, critic of Israel and advocate for Palestinian rights, who was leaving town for a job in New York.
A special tribute came from Khalidi's friend and frequent dinner companion, the young state Sen. Barack Obama. Speaking to the crowd, Obama reminisced about meals prepared by Khalidi's wife, Mona, and conversations that had challenged his thinking. His many talks with the Khalidis, Obama said, had been "consistent reminders to me of my own blind spots and my own biases. . . . It's for that reason that I'm hoping that, for many years to come, we continue that conversation -- a conversation that is necessary not just around Mona and Rashid's dinner table," but around "this entire world."
Today, five years later, Obama is a U.S. senator from Illinois who expresses a firmly pro-Israel view of Middle East politics, pleasing many of the Jewish leaders and advocates for Israel whom he is courting in his presidential campaign. The dinner conversations he had envisioned with his Palestinian American friend have ended. He and Khalidi have seen each other only fleetingly in recent years.
And yet the warm embrace Obama gave to Khalidi, and words like those at the professor's going-away party, have left some Palestinian American leaders believing that Obama is more receptive to their viewpoint than he is willing to say.
Their belief is not drawn from Obama's speeches or campaign literature, but from comments that some say Obama made in private and from his association with the Palestinian American community in his hometown of Chicago, including his presence at events where anger at Israeli and U.S. Middle East policy was freely expressed.
At Khalidi's 2003 farewell party, for example, a young Palestinian American recited a poem accusing the Israeli government of terrorism in its treatment of Palestinians and sharply criticizing U.S. support of Israel. If Palestinians cannot secure their own land, she said, "then you will never see a day of peace."
One speaker likened "Zionist settlers on the West Bank" to Osama bin Laden, saying both had been "blinded by ideology."
Obama adopted a different tone in his comments and called for finding common ground. But his presence at such events, as he worked to build a political base in Chicago, has led some Palestinian leaders to believe that he might deal differently with the Middle East than either of his opponents for the White House.
"I am confident that Barack Obama is more sympathetic to the position of ending the occupation than either of the other candidates," said Hussein Ibish, a senior fellow for the American Task Force on Palestine, referring to the Israeli presence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip that began after the 1967 war. More than his rivals for the White House, Ibish said, Obama sees a "moral imperative" in resolving the conflict and is most likely to apply pressure to both sides to make concessions.
"That's my personal opinion," Ibish said, "and I think it for a very large number of circumstantial reasons, and what he's said."
Aides say that Obama's friendships with Palestinian Americans reflect only his ability to interact with a wide diversity of people, and that his views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have been consistent. Obama has called himself a "stalwart" supporter of the Jewish state and its security needs. He believes in an eventual two-state solution in which Jewish and Palestinian nations exist in peace, which is consistent with current U.S. policy.
Obama also calls for the U.S. to talk to such declared enemies as Iran, Syria and Cuba. But he argues that the Palestinian militant organization Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip, is an exception, calling it a terrorist group that should renounce violence and recognize Israel's right to exist before dialogue begins. That viewpoint, which also matches current U.S. policy, clashes with that of many Palestinian advocates who urge the United States and Israel to treat Hamas as a partner in negotiations.
"Barack's belief is that it's important to understand other points of view, even if you can't agree with them," said his longtime political strategist, David Axelrod.
Obama "can disagree without shunning or demonizing those with other views," he said. "That's far different than the suggestion that he somehow tailors his view."
Looking for clues
But because Obama is relatively new on the national political scene, and new to foreign policy questions such as the long-simmering Israeli-Palestinian conflict, both sides have been looking closely for clues to what role he would play in that dispute.
And both sides, on certain issues, have interpreted Obama's remarks as supporting their point of view.
Last year, for example, Obama was quoted saying that "nobody's suffering more than the Palestinian people." The candidate later said the remark had been taken out of context, and that he meant that the Palestinians were suffering "from the failure of the Palestinian leadership [in Gaza] to recognize Israel" and to renounce violence.
Jewish leaders were satisfied with Obama's explanation, but some Palestinian leaders, including Ibish, took the original quotation as a sign of the candidate's empathy for their plight.
Obama's willingness to befriend Palestinian Americans and to hear their views also impressed, and even excited, a community that says it does not often have the ear of the political establishment.
Among other community events, Obama in 1998 attended a speech by Edward Said, the late Columbia University professor and a leading intellectual in the Palestinian movement. According to a news account of the speech, Said called that day for a nonviolent campaign "against settlements, against Israeli apartheid."
The use of such language to describe Israel's policies has drawn vehement objection from Israel's defenders in the United States. A photo on the pro-Palestinian website the Electronic Intifada shows Obama and his wife, Michelle, engaged in conversation at the dinner table with Said, and later listening to Said's keynote address. Obama had taken an English class from Said as an undergraduate at Columbia University.
Ali Abunimah, a Palestinian rights activist in Chicago who helps run Electronic Intifada, said that he met Obama several times at Palestinian and Arab American community events. At one, a 2000 fundraiser at a private home, Obama called for the U.S. to take an "even-handed" approach toward Israel, Abunimah wrote in an article on the website last year. He did not cite Obama's specific criticisms.
Abunimah, in a Times interview and on his website, said Obama seemed sympathetic to the Palestinian cause but more circumspect as he ran for the U.S. Senate in 2004. At a dinner gathering that year, Abunimah said, Obama greeted him warmly and said privately that he needed to speak cautiously about the Middle East.
Abunimah quoted Obama as saying that he was sorry he wasn't talking more about the Palestinian cause, but that his primary campaign had constrained what he could say.
Obama, through his aide Axelrod, denied he ever said those words, and Abunimah's account could not be independently verified.
"In no way did he take a position privately that he hasn't taken publicly and consistently," Axelrod said of Obama. "He always had expressed solicitude for the Palestinian people, who have been ill-served and have suffered greatly from the refusal of their leaders to renounce violence and recognize Israel's right to exist."
In Chicago, one of Obama's friends was Khalidi, a highly visible figure in the Arab American community.
In the 1970s, when Khalidi taught at a university in Beirut, he often spoke to reporters on behalf of Yasser Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization. In the early 1990s, he advised the Palestinian delegation during peace negotiations. Khalidi now occupies a prestigious professorship of Arab studies at Columbia.
He is seen as a moderate in Palestinian circles, having decried suicide bombings against civilians as a "war crime" and criticized the conduct of Hamas and other Palestinian leaders. Still, many of Khalidi's opinions are troubling to pro-Israel activists, such as his defense of Palestinians' right to resist Israeli occupation and his critique of U.S. policy as biased toward Israel.
While teaching at the University of Chicago, Khalidi and his wife lived in the Hyde Park neighborhood near the Obamas. The families became friends and dinner companions.
In 2000, the Khalidis held a fundraiser for Obama's unsuccessful congressional bid. The next year, a social service group whose board was headed by Mona Khalidi received a $40,000 grant from a local charity, the Woods Fund of Chicago, when Obama served on the fund's board of directors.
At Khalidi's going-away party in 2003, the scholar lavished praise on Obama, telling the mostly Palestinian American crowd that the state senator deserved their help in winning a U.S. Senate seat. "You will not have a better senator under any circumstances," Khalidi said.
The event was videotaped, and a copy of the tape was obtained by The Times.
Though Khalidi has seen little of Sen. Obama in recent years, Michelle Obama attended a party several months ago celebrating the marriage of the Khalidis' daughter.
In interviews with The Times, Khalidi declined to discuss specifics of private talks over the years with Obama. He did not begrudge his friend for being out of touch, or for focusing more these days on his support for Israel -- a stance that Khalidi calls a requirement to win a national election in the U.S., just as wooing Chicago's large Arab American community was important for winning local elections.
Khalidi added that he strongly disagrees with Obama's current views on Israel, and often disagreed with him during their talks over the years. But he added that Obama, because of his unusual background, with family ties to Kenya and Indonesia, would be more understanding of the Palestinian experience than typical American politicians.
"He has family literally all over the world," Khalidi said. "I feel a kindred spirit from that."
Ties with Israel
Even as he won support in Chicago's Palestinian community, Obama tried to forge ties with advocates for Israel.
In 2000, he submitted a policy paper to CityPAC, a pro-Israel political action committee, that among other things supported a unified Jerusalem as Israel's capital, a position far out of step from that of his Palestinian friends. The PAC concluded that Obama's position paper "suggests he is strongly pro-Israel on all of the major issues."
In 2002, as a rash of suicide bombings struck Israel, Obama sought out a Jewish colleague in the state Senate and asked whether he could sign onto a measure calling on Palestinian leaders to denounce violence. "He came to me and said, 'I want to have my name next to yours,' " said his former state Senate colleague Ira Silverstein, an observant Jew.
As a presidential candidate, Obama has won support from such prominent Chicago Jewish leaders as Penny Pritzker, a member of the family that owns the Hyatt hotel chain, and who is now his campaign finance chair, and from Lee Rosenberg, a board member of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
Nationally, Obama continues to face skepticism from some Jewish leaders who are wary of his long association with his pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., who had made racially incendiary comments during several sermons that recently became widely known. Questions have persisted about Wright in part because of the recent revelation that his church bulletin reprinted a Times op-ed written by a leader of Hamas.
One Jewish leader said he viewed Obama's outreach to Palestinian activists, such as Said, in the light of his relationship to Wright.
"In the context of spending 20 years in a church where now it is clear the anti-Israel rhetoric was there, was repeated, . . . that's what makes his presence at an Arab American event with a Said a greater concern," said Abraham H. Foxman, national director for the Anti-Defamation League.
The LA Times Is Holding on to the video Tape refusing to release the Video of this dinner stating it would unfairly portray Obama in supporting the Palestinian cause. We need to forward this email to as many people as possible and use the email listed above too request this video to be released to the main stream media before the election.
Contact The Los Angeles About Its Holding the Obama-Khalidi Videotape
Contact information for The Los Angeles Times is below.
Tell the LA Times What You Think by e-mailing the paper's "readers' representative," Jamie Gold, at readers.rep@latimes.com or click here to fill out a feedback form. Or call to leave a message with Gold at (877) 554-4000.
Obama's economic plan of raising taxes
Senator Barack Obama has unveiled his economic plan of raising taxes on the successful. His plan would boost the top marginal rate to well over 55 percent—before the inclusion of state and local taxes—resulting in many individuals seeing their marginal tax rate double. The consequences of this policy would be a return to the bad old days of tax avoidance, with taxpayers disguising personal income as business income or capital gains and the migration of capital from the United States to abroad.
Between now and January 1, 2011 (five short years away),
· Tax rates will rise substantially in each tax bracket, some by 450 basis points.
· Low-income taxpayers will see the 10-percent tax bracket disappear, and they will have to pay taxes at the 15-percent rate.
· Married taxpayers will see the marriage penalty return;
· Taxpayers with children will lose 50 percent of their child tax credits;
· Taxes on dividends will increase beginning on January 1, 2009.
· Taxes on capital gains will increase, also beginning on January 1, 2009; and
· Federal death taxes will come back to life in 2011, after fading down to nothing in 2010.
What makes this tax nightmare scenario particularly scary are the economic benefits that will never be realized if the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts disappear. Businesses are watching now to see if Congress will make permanent the first to expire of the major economic growth components of the 2001 and 2003 tax acts—lower taxes on dividends and capital gains. Failing to make permanent the low tax rates on investment would signal to businesses of all sizes that the other major elements of the Bush tax plan will also be allowed to expire. They would adjust their investment and hiring accordingly.
Among the more prominent elements of his tax proposal, Senator Obama would end the Bush tax cuts and allow the top two tax rates to return to 36 and 39.6 percent. He also would allow personal exemptions and deductions to be phased out for those with income over $250,000. The real kicker, though, is that Senator Obama would end the Social Security payroll tax cap for those over $250,000 in earnings. (The cap is currently set at $102,000.) These individuals will then face a tax rate of 15.65 percent from payroll taxes and the top income tax rate of 39.6 percent for a combined top rate of over 56 percent on each additional dollar earned.
High-income individuals will be forced to pay even more if they live in cities or states with high taxes such as New York City, California, or Maryland. These unlucky people would pay over two-thirds of each new dollar in earnings to the federal government.
Only six of the top 30 industrial nations have a tax rate for all levels of government combined that adds up to more than 55 percent. Obama's tax plan would give us a higher top rate than such high-tax nations as Sweden and Denmark. And these sorts of tax rates slow the economy.
Obama made it crystal clear to Joe the Plumber that he plans a massive redistribution of wealth — taking your wealth!
Oh, just so you know, Obama's plan defines 'rich' anyone making over $90,000 a year, because that's when his FICA tax cap comes off and you start paying an addition 7% of tax on each and every dollary you earn above the cap!
And if you are making just $50,000 a year or more — expect to pay another 4.5% on each and every dollar you earn starting in 2010. That's when the Bush tax cuts expire.
'President Obama' has emphatically states he will expire those cuts for "rich" people like you.
There aren't many who long for a return to the 1970s. Those of us old enough to recall that decade tend to think of gas lines, a hostage crisis and Watergate. President Jimmy Carter never used the word "malaise," but he acted as if America was doomed to decline, and it was his job to make sure it went smoothly.
Obama's crazy plan must be stopped. It will not only cost you money, it will throw the U.S. economy into a depression.
Tax Foundation looking at 2004 groups when it comes to paying taxes
http://www.taxfoundation.org/files/sr151.pdf
Obama Tax plan
http://www.taxfoundation.org/publications/show/23319.html.
While the majority of the redistribution is targeted to taxpayers in the middle three quintiles, a surprising large amount—$40 billion—would flow to taxpayers in the 80th to 95th percentile (those earning roughly $93,000 to $192,000 per year). This is largely due to the extension of the AMT patch
A brief overview of the alternative minimum tax (AMT).
The alternative minimum tax (or AMT) is an extra tax some people have to pay on top of the regular income tax. The original idea behind this tax was to prevent people with very high incomes from using special tax benefits to pay little or no tax. The AMT has increased its reach, however, and now applies to some people who don't have very high income or who don't claim lots of special tax benefits. Proposals to repeal or reform the AMT have languished in Congress for years, but effective action does not appear to be on the horizon. Until Congress acts, almost anyone is a potential target for this tax.
The name comes from the way the tax works. The AMT provides an alternative set of rules for calculating your income tax. In theory these rules determine minimum amount of tax that someone with your income should be required to pay. If you're already paying at least that much because of the "regular" income tax, you don't have to pay AMT. But if your regular tax falls below this minimum, you have to make up the difference by paying alternative minimum tax.
Q: How do I know if I have to worry about the AMT?
A: Unfortunately, there's no good answer to this common question — which is one of the big problems with the AMT. You can have AMT liability because of one big item on your tax return, or because of a combination of many small items. Some things that can contribute to AMT liability are mundane items that appear on many tax returns, such as a deduction for state income tax or interest on a second mortgage, or even your personal and dependency exemptions.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Preparing the park for Barack Obama Big Party Election
Chicago Times
The campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama sought to allay concerns from Chicago taxpayers and city officials today with promises it would foot the bill for an expansive outdoor rally at the southern end of Grant Park on election night.
Meanwhile, city workers began preparing the park for the event, CLTV reported. A stage was being built near Columbus and Roosevelt Drives and portable heaters were unloaded from trucks, the station said.
But on the question of monetary responsibility, "They have assured us that they're willing to pay," said Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications spokeswoman Jennifer Martinez, adding that the city had yet to hit the total button. "We're still outlining what some of these things will entail."
The U.S. Secret Service--and ultimately federal taxpayers--pays for nearly all the security around Obama. The city and state are likely to bill the campaign for things like street closures, crowd control outside a secure area in Grant Park, help with motorcades and overtime for public safety workers.
"In addition to the normal permit fees paid for park rentals, the campaign is already making arrangements to assure that city resources are not used to clean up the park following the event," Obama campaign spokesman Justin DeJong said. "The campaign is also paying for substantial private security and EMS [emergency medical] services to limit the need for city services surrounding the event."
In recent days, city emergency management chief Ray Orozco has been working with the Obama campaign to pin down details of the election night rally.
On Wednesday, photographers and officials from local and national news organizations toured the likely spot to plan their own election-night set-ups. Though deep in negotiations with the city, the campaign has yet to file for official permits to hold the event, according to the Chicago Park District.
Finding a way to keep from billing taxpayers for a big private event was key to city officials, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley said earlier Wednesday.
"That's what we're talking about. That will be the issue," Daley said when asked about the rally's cost. He spoke at a news conference focusing on property tax relief.
Security around Grant Park will be very high and almost certainly will require fencing to be put up around a secure perimeter. As is the case for concerts and festivals held in the park, some streets in the area likely will be closed.
Details on ticketing have not yet been announced. Attendees likely would face metal detectors and have their possessions searched, just as at all Obama events. The process is similar to going through airport security and can create lines blocks long, as was the case at an Obama event under the Gateway Arch in St. Louis last weekend that attracted an estimated 100,000 people.
In the hours before and during the event, locals should not be surprised to see snipers and security agents with binoculars positioned on the roofs of buildings and other high structures. That often takes place when Obama holds outdoor events.
No part of a presidential campaign is cheap, and as a reminder, the campaign told news outfits Tuesday what they could expect to pay to cover the event:
Access to a 20-amp power outlet would be $165. A spot on the main riser would be $935, as would a table and chair in a heated tent with power, sandwiches, high-speed Internet and a good view of cable television. A covered television platform suitable for network anchors would cost $29,700. Parking a satellite truck would be $990. Many others will cover the event for free with passes that let them stand in the cold.
Even Obama staffers view the event with angst, though for a different reason. They're concerned volunteers in northwest Indiana and southern Wisconsin could be drawn away from get-out-the-vote efforts to join a potentially historic rally in Chicago. That is troubling to a campaign that views both areas as key terrain in battleground states.
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