IF YOU CAN'T START FROM BEING COMFORTABLE WITH WHOM YOU ARE ~ YOUR JUDGMENTS WILL BE OFF

SOME ENDORSEMENTS ARE MORE IMPRESSIVE THAN OTHERS ~ DEPENDS ON YOUR OPINION

Michelle Obama (Barack Obama's wife), Caroline Kennedy, Maria Shriver (Arnold Schwarzenegger's wife and from the Kennedy family) and Oprah Winfrey

The list of people who have stepped out to associate their names, reputation and, or influence is long. See the partial list at Times Online

According to Times Online Jerry Springer has endorsed Hillary Clinton among many others. This doesn't necessarily mean much. But I found it interesting. At least, it made me chuckle.

If I added my name publicly to the endorsements for Barack Obama, the world would completely ignore me. And yet I am in the category that I hear is typically for Hillary Clinton. I don't hate Hillary personally. Though, I do detest the idea of her as the President of the United States of America.

The hateful comments made about Barack Obama on some blog comment sections reflect the person writing them and not Barack. It is sad as well as sobering to see, but I honestly have spoken my feelings about Hillary. Just not with "junior high" back and forth venomous behavior in my opinion. And that is what I see from those for Hillary Clinton when they speak against Barack Obama.

Opinion is involved. We all bring with us our own perceptions. We're all programmed to a large extent and it is based on our family upbringing and consequential experiences in life. We all have had needs that aren't met and we are out to get them met one way or the other.

I am always amazed at the often opposing opinions of the very same speech or debate. Sometimes I can see that a person for the opposing candidate would see things a certain way, but I feel I know my candidate enough and will give him a little room to be human.

For me, the issues only matter secondarily. First, I must believe the person doesn't lie, comes from truth and knows himself or herself and is comfortable with whom he or she is. If you can't start from being comfortable with whom you are, your judgments will be affected in a way that is detrimental.

Breaking News: Maria Shriver endorses Barack Obama

In a dramatic moment at UCLA's Pauley Pavilion, California First Lady Maria Shriver just strode out onto a stage that had already seen its share of celebrities -- Oprah Winfrey and Stevie Wonder among them -- and announced that she was joining the Kennedy half of the family backing Barack Obama, reports our colleague Mark Z. Barabak, who is there.

More details will be posted shortly and in tomorrow's print edition, but Shriver reportedly was waiting backstage wavering over whether she should make her support public, and then finally strode out on stage. Her husband, Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, earlier this week announced his endorsement for Sen. John McCain.

The Kennedy family has split over the two top Democratic contenders, with Ted KennedyCaroline Kennedy Schlossberg -- daughter of his brother John F. Kennedy -- and his son, U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy, all going with Obama. Ethel Kennedy, widow of Robert F. Kennedy, also went with the Illinois senator. joined by

But Hillary Rodham Clinton picked up the support of three of Robert and Ethel's children -- Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Kerry Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

UPDATE: Shriver told the crowded gym that she had not intended to be at the rally, and had come straight over after going horse riding with her daughter. She joked about her appearance -- riding clothes, sans makeup and without having her hair done -- as she added her pitch for Obama.

"If Barack Obama was a state he'd be California," Shriver said, drawing roars from the crowd. "I mean think about it: diverse, open, smart, independent, oppose tradition, innovative, inspiring, dreamer, leader."

And she touched on the ...

themes of optimism and collective action that Obama has sought to build his campaign around.

"He's not about himself. He's about the power of us and what we can do if we come together," Shriver said. "He is about empowering women, African Americans, Latinos, old people, young people. He's about empowering all of us."

Shriver, a former network television journalist, also acknowledged some uncertainty over taking such a public stand. "Sometimes, when you follow your own truth and your own voice, it's scary," she said. "But that's all you can do."

Shriver was on stage with Schlossberg, Winfrey, Michelle Obama and Maria Elena Durazo, executive secretary-treasurer Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. Shriver said she made the decision this morning. "I wasn't on the schedule," she said, "and I thought to myself when I woke up this morning, I thought, there's no other place I should be than right here."

-- Scott Martelle

Source: LA Times

Barack + GOP = ‘Obamacans’

Some prominent Republicans have caught Obama fever.

By Richard Wolffe

Newsweek Web Exclusive

Updated: 7:02 PM ET
Feb 1, 2008

Susan Eisenhower is more than just another disappointed Republican. She is also Ike's granddaughter and a dedicated member of the party who has urged her fellow Republicans in the past to stick with the GOP. But now Eisenhower, who runs an international consulting firm, is endorsing Barack Obama. She has no plans to officially leave the Republican party. But in Eisenhower's view, Obama is the only candidate who can build a national consensus on the issues most important to her--energy, global warming, an aging population and America's standing in the world.

"Barack Obama will really be in a singular position to attract moderate Republicans," she told newsweek. "I wanted to do what many people did for my grandfather in 1952. He was hugely aided in his quest for the presidency by Democrats for Eisenhower. There's a long and fine tradition of crossover voters."

Eisenhower is one of a small but symbolically powerful group of what Obama recently called "Obamacans"--disaffected Republicans who have drifted away from their party just as Eisenhower Democrats did and, more recently, Reagan Democrats in the 1980s. They include lifelong Republican Tricia Moseley, a former staffer for the late Sen. Strom Thurmond, the one-time segregationist from South Carolina. Now a high-school teacher, Moseley says she was attracted to Obama's positions on education and the economy.

Former GOP congressman Joe Scarborough, who anchors MSNBC's "Morning Joe," says many conservative friends--including Bush officials and evangelical Christians--sent him enthusiastic e-mails after seeing Obama's post-election speeches in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. "He doesn't attack Republicans, he doesn't attack whites and he never seems to draw these dividing lines that Bill Clinton [does]," Scarborough told NEWSWEEK.

Plenty of Republicans are immune to the Obama swoon, of course. The Republican National Committee has emphasized a recent analysis suggesting that Obama had the most liberal voting record in the Senate last year. But even small numbers of Obamacans can help reinforce the candidate's unity message and bolster his "electability" argument. In Iowa, the campaign identified more than 700 registered Republicans who committed to caucusing for Obama (although staffers say they don't yet know how many showed up to vote). And in the Super Tuesday state of Colorado, campaign staffers say they found more than 500 erstwhile Republicans who were willing to switch their party registration.

Even if Republicans don't convert in more significant numbers, the friendly outreach may blunt the ferocity of GOP attacks. One senior aide to John McCain has already said he's reluctant to attack Obama: last year, McCain's adman Mark McKinnon wrote an internal memo promising not to tape ads against the Illinois Democrat if he were the nominee.

Source: Newsweek

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VOTE OBAMA FOR AMERICA