8 posts tagged “democrat”

My take on Rev.Wright-

His demeanor yesterday seemed full of ego and narcissism,anger and an element of bigotry. I think Wright is angry that Obama distanced himself from his inflammatory rhetoric and his ego can't let him let it go long enough for Obama to recover from the initial damage. I think part of what Wright did was intentionally designed to hurt Obama because of his "betrayal". His desire to elevate the status of African Americans isn't as strong as his need to defend himself.  He'd rather throw Obama "under the bus" then to keep quiet and help Obama win. (Mika was right on Morning Joe when she said he seemed to relish the attention on himself.)

I listened to his entire speech yesterday and found the content to be interesting and mostly valid. He's a very good speaker. But I've been in enough black churches to know that while Wright's style is typical, his message is not.  I have absolutely no doubt that this will do lasting and even permanent (hopefully not fatal) damage to Obama's campaign.

Wright's words painted Obama as the type of politician he's trying not to be when he said that Obama had reacted as he did because that's the way politicians act.  He didn't refer to Obama as a friend but nothing more than an opportunist.  He said he'd "go after Obama" if he wins the Presidency because he'd then be part of the group that keeps black people down.

Clinton and McCain will use every bit of this to paint Obama into a corner and force him to continue to defend Wright, keeping him off his message of hope and unity.  He'll be damaged in the eyes of people who were undecided or even hesitant to vote for an African American.

I've wavered on how I feel about Rev.Wright and had gotten to the point where I thought I could understand why he preached his message.  Something in my gut, that I ignored, was telling me that Wright was the type of preacher whose sermons were often more about getting attention than in saving souls, I think now that I should have followed my first instinct.

I don't for one minute hold Obama responsible for this, with the exception that he denied ever hearing Wright's anti-American and outrageous sermons. All of Chicago knew Wright for what he was.  You can't be in a church for 20 years with a pastor well known for his controversial Afro-centric views and not know what his sermons contain.  I 'm not saying Obama agreed with what Wright said, nor am I suggesting that he should have left the church. I am saying that Obama should have been truthful in his response when asked about his pastor and he could have reduced this damage. Now he's caught up in the spin that he can't get away from.

I've been gone for awhile, severely neglecting my blog.  I do that sometimes, just check out and disappear.  I get depressed when I'm stressed and in emotional overload. I think I'm emerging from that, but who knows for sure.

I'm still working for the Obama Iowa campaign, although things have slowed down. We had our County Convention a few weeks ago and did really well.  We ended up with 7 delegates to send to the District and State Conventions. Iowa's final tally of national delegates will be decided at that point.  I'm looking forward to the conventions, sort of as a way to have seen this campaign to  through from beginning to end.  It's been an interesting journey and I've learned a lot about the political process.  I was also elected to a 2 year term as Secretary of our County Democratic Central Committee. Ah, the life  of a politics junkie!

My son has been very ill for the past couple of months.   His bipolar disorder has developed some psychotic overtones, both visual and delusional and this has caused his anxiety and panic attacks to escalate.  We had to have him hospitalized for 11 days, which was really hard on us all, and he came home on Monday.  Things weren't much better.

Fortunately, his case worker was able to find a small apartment designed for mentally ill adults where he can live and get some help.He's independent in that he can come and go as he pleases, bu he's required to follow a treatment plan that includes learning independent living skills and learning how to live with a chronic mental illness.

Another major stressor has been helping my mother deal with my father's recently diagnosed Alzheimer's diagnoses.   We're separated by 1000 miles  but there isn't any other family to help out.  I do what I can, such as researching support groups and preparing the various powers of attorneys. l know I'll eventually have to fly back to Virginia to tackle the hard stuff when Mom can't handle things on her own any longer.  I have a feeling I'll be there in the summer.

Now my focus has to be on finding a job, since I've been unemployed since the beginning of  October.  That's where living  in a  rural  location  is a disadvantage. Unless I  want to work on a farm, in a manufacturer plant or as a housekeeper at the nursing home, I'm out of luck.  Office jobs that I'm qualified for (manager, admin. assistant and the like) are non-existent.  The ones that exist are taken by women who'll retire from them.  No one leaves! I'm trying to think of something I can do from home.

And winter just may be over, but I may have jinxed it by saying that!  I can finally see my wet, soggy lawn and a few plants are coming up.  My vegetable garden is planned and should be able to plant by the end of May.  I'm going to attempt a technique called "square foot gardening" which is supposed to increase the yield in a much smaller area.   I'll probably end up selling my bounty at the local farmer's market...but this unemployed person could use the income.

Depressing things to write about, but isn't what life is like?  I'm a natural pessimist anyway and I like Ben Franklin's outlook. To paraphrase. I'm a pessimist so that when things go good, I'm pleasantly surprised.

Katie at the Waverly Horse Auction
My cat friends, Chloe and Willie
Snow - I won't miss this!
This is what it took to get rid of the 8" of ice in our driveway.

And what I'm looking forward to....

Garden

It's down to the wire in Iowa with just under 3 weeks before the caucuses.  The candidates are descending on small towns across the state, from the Mississippi to the Missouri Rivers, trying to win the votes of every valuable Iowan.

Our little town was campaign central on Friday, Dec. 14, with back-to-back visits from John Edwards and Barack Obama.  Edwards held his event at a local steakhouse, drawing a crowd of about 150.  Obama drew a much larger crowd of 300 and the Delaware County Fairgrounds Community Center.  Both meetings' turnouts were impressive considering they were held on a dreary, icy cold weekday afternoon.  But we Iowans like the political process and come out in droves to be persuaded to give up our precious support.

Katie, Dan, Kaitlin (his girlfriend) and I did our part to make the event a success.  Katie and Kaitlin helped greet and register attendees, as well as distributed supporter cards.  Dan and I, along with a couple of other friends (Seth and Eric), acted as ushers.  What seemed like a simple task got a little harried when it became apparent that the crowd needed twice as many chairs as had been set out.  We eventually packed the building to standing room only.  Seth, eric and I were asked to handle microphones during the Q&A session, which was a lot of fun.

I enjoyed being behind the scenes this time.  While I missed most of Obama's talk, I was able to mingle with some of the national press corps and see first hand how these things are put together.  The Obama "advance" man, Ethan, is like a hummingbird, running from one end of the building to the other and directing each volunteer with precision.  I've been observing his work at all of the Obama events I've attended since May and have been amazed at how he makes everything work.  It was nice to finally meet him.

Eric and I spoke to Obama's Northeast Iowa Field Director, Brent Welder, about what would happen to our group of volunteers once the caucus is over.  We were encouraged to continue to meet on a monthly basis and to be prepared to take an active role in the Democratic general election race this summer.  Of course, our hope is that Obama will be the nominee and that we can take the lead in ensuring his election to the White House in November '08.

So, the countdown clock is ticking and we're all prepared to put in many hours of work between now and January 3.  Our excitement (and anxiety) is growing as we hope and pray for an Obama victory.

Here's a few pictures from Dec. 14 -

1) Obama speaking to the crowd, 2) my friend Betty introducing obama, 3) our Field Organizer, Gen, 4) Dan and Katie, 5) attendees at the Community Center, 6) a news crew, 70 Katie in front of John Edwards' bus

Welcome to December in Iowa!  It's all snow and politics, and from the looks of things, will be that way for a while. 
We had a bit of snow and ice last weekend, and then more, and a bit more, and even more today.  There's more forecast for several more days this week.  I doubt we'll see anything but white on the ground until spring.

On the politics issue - WOW!!  The presidential campaigns are going full-speed with only 25 more days until the caucus.  I'm hosting a gathering for members of my precinct on December 13, along with at least 800 other precinct captains across Iowa.  I'll be sharing campaign literature, showing a DVD and talking about how to caucus.  Should be fun.  On Dec. 14, Senator Obama will be in Manchester.  We'll be manning (womaning??) the phones to let our voters know about the event and we anticipate a huge attendance.  (John Edwards will be in town at the same time, and H Clinton is coming that same weekend.  Whew!)

I had the most fun last night.  Mark and I, along with my kids and their friend, attended a rally at the US Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids and heard three great speakers - Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey and Barack Obama.  10,000 people attended, which is huge for Iowa.  I know a lot of the press has been negative about Oprah stumping for

071208oprah_obama

Oprah was her usual eloquent self when she talked about her admiration for Obama and what she sees as his ability to bring much needed change to Washington.  She seemed a little uncomfortable in front of such a large crowd, but relaxed and became more passionate as she spoke. Michelle was also compelling and showed again what a terrific speaker she is.  She can really draw people in with her personal warmth and knack for taking huge national issues and making them very personal. 

Of course, the star of the night was Barack Obama.  He spoke for about 20 minutes, repeating the best of his remarks from the Jefferson Jackson Dinner speech.  http://youtube.com/watch?v=tydfsfSQiYc   He had  the crowd on its feet for the entire time and the response was deafening!  My hope is that we can covert these people into caucus goers and send Obama to the White House with a huge mandate. 

You can read coverage of the event here - http://www.gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071208/IOWACAUCUS/712080034/1002/NEWS

The Iowa Caucuses are in 38 days, 7 hours and 25 minutes as I write this post.  Time for all the undecided voters to make up their minds!  I've volunteered to be a precinct captain for Barack Obama as well as a member of the County Leadership Team because I think he's the best candidate for the job.  I'm sending out a letter to residents of my precinct to urge them to participate in the caucus and to vote for Obaba,  My reasons for supporting him are....

1)      Senator Obama makes me hopeful. Hearing Obama speak makes me want to get out and work for change.  He inspires and encourages ordinary citizens to feel empowered to make this country better for everyone.  He says, “In the face of impossible odds, people who love their country can change it.”

2)      3) An Obama presidency would transform the world.  The day Obama takes office, the world will see the U.S. in a different light.  Obama intends to sit down with our friends and enemies and talk about the issues that both divide and unite us in the world. “In this election, we have the chance to turn the page on the last six years of being told that the only way for Democrats to look tough on national security is to talk, and act, and vote like George Bush Republicans.”

3)      4) Obama will take on the big issues and reach consensus. Obama knows that the only way to get serious work done in the Congress is to reach across party lines and create legislation that both parties can agree on.  The days of deadlock will end.  “I don't want to pit Blue America against Red America, I want to lead a United States of America”.

4)      Senator Obama has both the judgment and experience.  Dick Cheney and Karl Rove are two of the most experienced people in Washington and their “experience” has sent thousands of American soldiers into a war that should never have happened.  "I love when people criticize me about my foreign policy experience when they got either snowed into or intimidated into supporting the biggest foreign policy disaster in a generation, and I'm thinking well what good was your experience if you showed such poor judgment?"