So cute! Click directly on the play button.
Republican Congressman (‘77-’07) Jim Leach:
In troubled times, it was understood that country comes before party, that in perilous moments mutual concern for the national interest must be the only factor in political judgments. This does not mean that debate within and between the political parties should not be vibrant. Yet what frustrates so many citizens is the lack of bipartisanship in Washington and the way today’s Republican Party has broken with its conservative heritage.
The party that once emphasized individual rights has gravitated in recent years toward regulating values. The party of military responsibility has taken us to war with a country that did not attack us. The party that formerly led the world in arms control has moved to undercut treaties crucial to the defense of the earth. The party that prides itself on conservation has abdicated its responsibilities in the face of global warming. And the party historically anchored in fiscal restraint has nearly doubled the national debt, squandering our precious resources in an undisciplined and unprecedented effort to finance a war with tax cuts.
America has seldom faced more critical choices: whether we should maintain an occupational force for decades in a country and region that resents western intervention or elect a leader who, in a carefully structured way, will bring our troops home from Iraq as the heroes they are. Whether it is wise to continue to project power largely alone with flickering support around the world or elect a leader who will follow the model of General Eisenhower and this president’s father and lead in concert with allies.
Whether it is prudent to borrow from future generations to pay for today’s reckless fiscal policies or elect a leader who will shore up our budgets and return to a strong dollar. Whether it is preferable to continue the policies that have weakened our position in the world, deepened our debt and widened social divisions or elect a leader who will emulate John F. Kennedy and relight a lamp of fairness at home and reassert an energizing mix of realism and idealism abroad.
The portfolio of challenges passed on to the next president will be as daunting as any since the Great Depression and World War II. This is not a time for politics as usual or for run-of-the-mill politicians. Little is riskier to the national interest than more of the same. America needs new ideas, new energy and a new generation of leadership.
Hence, I stand before you [at the Democratic convention] proud of my party’s contributions to American history but, as a citizen, proud as well of the good judgment of good people in this good [Democratic] party, in nominating a transcending candidate, an individual whom I am convinced will recapture the American dream and be a truly great president: the senator from Abraham Lincoln’s state—Barack Obama. Thank you.
Question: Are you among the hated “elites,” having a decent education, keen mind and an interest in travel, art, history, reality & government by leaders who actually know the first thing about it? If so, you’re no doubt a well-rounded person who has likely seen and loved the epic musical “Les Miserables.” Here’s a great take-off on one of the songs. The setting is Obama’s campaign headquarters on the day before the election...
News flash: Republican Colin Powell delivers his eloquent endorsement of Obama here.
Hear Sam Seder’s remarks, starting at around 1:35.
I wonder how he feels, now that she died the day before the election. Can a cold, cold heart feel anything at all?
Joseph L. Galloway, McClatchey News editorial
This is an autumn of great discontent as not just the
United States, but the entire world trembles on the brink of
an economic recession that may bring the kind of pain
that's known only to the oldest among us.
With days to go before Election Day, the nation watches as
a presidential candidate and his political party unravel,
frantically dragging every ugly ghost out of the closet in
an attempt not only to fool everyone, but also to scare
everyone.
They appeal to the worst remnants of racism that cling like
kudzu to a dying magnolia. Their robot phone dialers intrude
on millions of uneasy citizens with messages of hate and
fear and envy and greed.
They try to paper their opponent with guilt by association:
He associated with a man who, decades before they ever met,
belonged to a group of wild-eyed student revolutionaries.
They and their forces of darkness falsely claim that
he's a Muslim at the same time they attack him for
belonging to a Christian church whose black minister
aimed angry sermons at white America.
They have presided for the last eight years over a stunning
redistribution of wealth: They've turned Robin Hood
upside down, taking from the poor and the middle class
and giving to the very rich.
Yet they tar their opponent for daring to suggest that
it's time to turn the tables and redirect some of that
wealth to those who are jobless, homeless and hopeless,
and to the millions of other hard-working Americans who are
likely to join those growing ranks in the months and years
to come.
They call him a socialist for embracing a principle that's
rooted deeply in the teachings of the Christianity that they
wear on their sleeves but cannot find room for in their hearts.
They promise to "correct the mistakes" of their own
president, their own members of Congress, their own
appointed overseers and regulators, if only we give them
another chance.
They promise to punish the Wall Street tycoons and the big
bankers who in their greed built this house of cards
that's crashing down onto Main Street. Yes they will.
Surely they will smite the robber barons who brushed a few
crumbs from their groaning tables of riches into the laps of
the very people who now vow to punish their benefactors of
great wealth.
They say this even as the barons, fat with bonuses and
commissions, pick over the carcass of a fallen economy,
carving out another tasty morsel or two for themselves.
Is it any wonder that Sen. John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin
and the Republican Party are sinking like the Titanic? Do
they take us all for complete morons?
Granted, they may have reason to think that. After all, not
only did we (with some help from the Supreme Court) elect
George W. Bush our president, we also re-elected him to a
second term. Fooled us twice, they think, so maybe the third
time is charmed. That, however, doesn't seem likely as a
cold, hard winter looms this November....
The financial collapse and the painful fallout that's
stalking the nation won't be righted overnight, however.
Putting Barack Obama in the White House and giving the
Democrats a veto-proof majority in Congress won't mean
that happy days are here again.
Hard work, sacrifice and suffering lie ahead. It could take
a decade or more to repair all the damage that Bush, Dick
Cheney and all their henchmen in prison, out of prison and
on their way to prison have done to our economy, our
military, our standing in the world, our Constitution and to
civil discourse, common decency and competent governance.
In the meantime, we Americans would do well to try to
remember all those things that our grandmothers told us
about how to get by in hard times....
Someday we may be able to tell our grandchildren about the
Election of '08 when we, the people, turned away from
anger, hate and greed and once again embraced the better
angels of our nature.
And finally, a little fun...
I’ve saved only a few of my favorite election items, below. Enjoy.
Attending Barack Obama’s election night event in Chicago’s Grant Park was perhaps the most exciting event of my life. As the upwards-of-a-million of us dispersed, I tried to think of words I could employ to describe the joy we felt there and saw shared around the globe. There are no such words. But this odd analogy popped into my head: It felt like the country had just taken a good shower, after having gotten very grimy and sweaty over the past 8 years. It felt like we were clean again, ready for a fresh start, able to hold our heads up in the world again. A week later and I still can’t get through these pictures without tears.
Maya Angelou after the election (powerful!)
She’s in the last half of this clip. Sorry about the 30-second
commercial at the front end.
I'm a middle-class white guy living in Jacksonville, Florida. I've got a wife and two kids. Because the kids had no school today, I took a vacation day from work and took the kids downtown to vote early. Fifty-nine minutes later, two smiling children and I proudly sported "I Voted" stickers.
But I didn't vote for Obama.
I voted for my ancestors, who believed in the promise of this country and came with nothing as immigrants.
I voted for my parents, who taught in the public schools for decades.
I voted for Steve, an acquaintance of mine from Kentucky who was killed by an IED two years ago in Iraq.
I voted for Shawn, another who's been to Iraq twice and Afghanistan once, and who'll be going back to Afghanistan again soon -- and whose family earned eleven bucks a month too much to qualify for food stamps when the war started.
I voted for April, the only African-American girl in my high school. It was years before it occurred to me how different her experience in our school must have been.
I voted for my college friends who are Christian, Jewish, Mormon, and, yes, Muslim.
I voted for my grandfathers, who worked hard in factories and died too young.
I voted for the plumber who worked on my house, because I want him to get a REAL tax break.
I voted for four little angels from Birmingham.
I voted for a bunch of dead white men who, although personally flawed, were willing to pledge their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor, and used a time of great crisis to expand freedom rather than suspend it.
I voted for all those people and more, and I voted for all of you, too.
But mostly, I voted selfishly. I voted for two little kids, one who has ballet in an hour and one who has baseball practice at the same time. I voted for a world where they can be confident that their government will represent the best that is in this country, and that it will in turn demand the best of them.
I voted for a government that will be respected in the world. I voted for an economy that will reward work above guile. I voted for everything I believe in.
Sure, I filled in the circle next to the name Obama, but it wasn't him I was voting for. It was every single one of us and those I love most of all. Who else is there to vote for? - Anonymous
