I think people really don't get themselves informed about who they vote for. I think this because I once was one of those people. But now, I take it seriously.
There is only one. Only one of the three remaining candidates that I can be happy with.
And that is, as my title says, is Barack Obama. I have volunteered for him. I have sent in my 25 dollar donations to Obama for America. I believe he is a person of integrity and I believe he has leadership qualities that I can be proud of.
I cannot stomach Hillary Clinton. And I voted for Bill Clinton twice. But I cannot stand her. Her ego is running. And I don't like her ego.
And John McCain doesn't speak without blatantly contradicting himself.
So, here is hoping that the majority votes that are counted are for Barack.
I do think we should hear our candidates talk about the nation's deficit. But we don't.
I think the American people need to demand it. But I think as a general rule, pandering is more acceptable by the citizens (summer gas price freeze) than speaking the truth about such things as our tremendously huge debt.
Do you know how much debt the USA ~ the so-called richest nation in the world ~ is in?
Debt_Clock
U.S. NATIONAL DEBT CLOCK
The Outstanding Public Debt as of 03 May 2008 at 04:38:41 AM GMT is:
 |
The estimated population of the United States is 303,918,872
so each citizen's share of this debt is $30,759.09.
The National Debt has continued to increase an average of
$1.45 billion per day since September 29, 2006!
Concerned? Tell Congress and the White House!
The fact that we use China as one of our nation's banks is outrageous. We are in debt to a nation that is helping fund the genocide in Darfur and selling Sudan weapons for the genocide.
Why are President Bush and Vice President Cheney not being tried as criminals? They have broken laws.
Yet, we send people to prison who haven't ruined a country's reputation and demolished U.S. Constitutional rights but who have broken a law such as not paying their income taxes. I cringe thinking that our tax dollars have been strapped to wooden pallets and lost when sent to Iraq. Who in their right mind would send 360 tons of cash into a war zone?
Not to mention the money we have poured down the drain, in Iraq in other ways, the tax dollars we have given to Blackwater and on and on. We have paid for buildings to be built in Iraq that the building plans have been deserted. But we don't hear about those stories, instead our 24 hour news repetitive stories and internet service gives us stupid and nonrelevant stories.
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Obama has won over the world ~ I am worried about the average USA uninformed voter
Although I live in Rhode Island and have since 1973, I was born in Huntington, Indiana and when I was 10 we moved to Columbia City, Indiana where my father coached the Columbia City High School basketball team. Yesterday, my brother called me from Hawaii where he lives to tell me Barack Obama was on CNN live in Columbia City. So I googled Barack Obama Columbia City Indiana and came up with a long list of links. Columbia City is a very small town located in northeastern Indiana in farm country.
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Columbia City, Indiana
Barack talks with senior citizens on May 1, 2008 in Columbia City, Indiana
Here are a few links:
www.vibe.com/obama/videos
Obama Leaves the Stage to Mix With His Skeptics
The Oak Pointe retirement center in Columbia City, Ind., was Senator Barack Obama’s first campaign stop on Thursday.
COLUMBIA CITY, Ind. — There was no music, no sea of screaming admirers and only a light dabble of applause when Senator Barack Obama walked across the green carpet of the Oak Pointe retirement center here on Thursday at his first campaign stop of the day.
As he tries to navigate beyond one of his roughest patches in the long Democratic nominating fight, Mr. Obama did not retreat to the comforts of super-size rallies that have defined his presidential bid, with their lofty oratory.
Those events, advisers say, do not convert enough skeptics, which Mr. Obama must do if he is to expand his support in Indiana and beyond, particularly after the controversy stirred by the incendiary remarks of his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr.
So, five days before facing Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in the next round of Democratic primaries, Mr. Obama awoke on Thursday intent on tackling a broader challenge waiting in the wings: assuring Indiana voters that he believes in their same values and shares their patriotism.
As he traveled by bus across northern Indiana, from Columbia City to South Bend and North Liberty to Union Mills, Mr. Obama’s appearances resembled the early days of a campaign for the White House, unfolding throughout the day as a rolling introductory tour, absent much presidential glamour.
The city librarian delivered a glowing introduction of Mr. Obama at the assisted living center here. Later, a farmer offered an endorsement before the senator met voters at the Dairy Beef Building at the county fairgrounds. By evening, he loosened his tie and sat down at a picnic table as he made small talk with a family on an Indiana farm.
For days, the controversy surrounding Mr. Wright had threatened to overtake Mr. Obama’s message in the critical closing days of the Indiana and North Carolina primary campaigns.
Frustrated by the attention the story had received from the news media and pained by being forced to denounce Mr. Wright publicly, Mr. Obama appeared tired, worn and rambling during a late-night appearance on Wednesday in Bloomington.
But if presidential campaigns are built upon stagecraft and images, this is the picture his strategists wanted to project on Thursday: He was talking, listening — and, they hoped, connecting — with older, white residents of Indiana, the kind of voters he struggled to win over in Pennsylvania.
At the Oak Pointe center, he was intent on shaking hands with each of the 52 residents seated in easy chairs and wheelchairs and on sofas. A few hours later, he rolled up his sleeves and drank a can of Budweiser as he talked with a group of men at a V.F.W. club.
Neither the candidate nor his advisers are certain how the storm surrounding his relationship with Mr. Wright will play out among voters here or in the states remaining in the final month of the Democratic primary calendar. But as the campaign enters its 16th month, Mr. Obama is suddenly redoubling his efforts to introduce himself and answer questions that have settled into the political narrative: Who is he? Is he like us?
“You want to know my values?” Mr. Obama asked a group of voters on a recent evening. “Let me tell you about my family.”
So he tells most audiences now the story of his Kansas-born grandparents, particularly that of his grandfather, who fought in World War II and is buried in Punchbowl Cemetery in Hawaii. His mother — a single mother — saw to it that he got the best education. It is, he concludes, a living example of the American dream.
Although Mr. Obama’s presidential candidacy sprang from his autobiography, his story is far less concrete. If Senator John McCain is known as a war hero, a maverick, a temperamental warrior, and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is known as a smart political figure, toughened by years of crisis, Mr. Obama remains unformed.
“Because we’ve been so successful, that’s why my opponents have been trying to make this election about me lately,” Mr. Obama said, to a large crowd on Wednesday evening in Bloomington. “ ‘We’re not sure he shares our values. We haven’t seen him wear a flag pin lately. He’s got a funny name. He says he’s Christian, but we don’t know. His former pastor said some terrible things and so, can we really trust this guy?’ ”
In near unison, the audience replied, “Yes!”
But as Mr. Obama heard for himself, those concerns are on people’s minds. At a campaign stop outside South Bend, a man asked a question about trade and before he finished, he added: “I’ve been reading on the Internet that you believe as an American we should not have to pledge allegiance to the flag. Is that true?”
“It is not. That is completely bogus,” Mr. Obama replied tersely. “These e-mails have been sent around in each state I’m about to go into. It’s a smear campaign they’ve been running since the beginning of the campaign. I lead the Pledge of Allegiance when I’m presiding in the Senate, so you can catch it on videotape.”
To lighten the day, Mr. Obama also turned to humor. A crew from “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central followed him around Indiana. He delivered the Top 10 list on “Late Show with David Letterman.” He did not mention Mr. Wright but did poke fun at himself on No. 6, saying: “Earlier today, I bowled a 39,” a reference to his actual score of 37 he bowled last month in Pennsylvania.
But the laughter belied a trying week. Although angered by the distraction — and feeling betrayed by Mr. Wright — Mr. Obama maintained a calm sense of certainty, associates said, and urged his campaign aides to focus on the race.
At four campaign events, the subject of Mr. Wright was not broached publicly on Thursday. It was, though, on the minds of several voters who filled his small audiences.
Betty McManama, an 87-year-old resident of the retirement center, has carefully followed the Democratic primary. She disagreed strongly with Mr. Wright’s remarks about the United States government, but she said she did not believe the senator should be punished for them. She said she felt that questions of religion, patriotism and values were an excuse.
“I think there’s a certain percentage of people who won’t vote for him because he’s black, and I think that’s a shame,” said Ms. McManama, who started the day on Thursday not sure which Democratic candidate to support. But after meeting Mr. Obama, she said: “I’m leaning toward him. How could you not?”
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Joe Andrew switches sides from Hillary to Barack Obama for President
Article:
Democratic National Committee Chairman Under Bill Clinton, Joe Andrew from Indiana, Unites Behind Obama
For a presidential candidate, particularly one in the throes of a rigorous political and personal test, such a dearth of energy could be a worrisome sign. For Mr. Obama, it was all part of the new script.
“What I want to do is spend more time listening than talking,” Mr. Obama told a small clutch of Indiana voters. “It’s been wonderful to see these big crowds, but the problem is you don’t really learn much when you’re listening to yourself talk.”
As he tries to navigate beyond one of his roughest patches in the long Democratic nominating fight, Mr. Obama did not retreat to the comforts of super-size rallies that have defined his presidential bid, with their lofty oratory.
Those events, advisers say, do not convert enough skeptics, which Mr. Obama must do if he is to expand his support in Indiana and beyond, particularly after the controversy stirred by the incendiary remarks of his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr.
So, five days before facing Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in the next round of Democratic primaries, Mr. Obama awoke on Thursday intent on tackling a broader challenge waiting in the wings: assuring Indiana voters that he believes in their same values and shares their patriotism.
As he traveled by bus across northern Indiana, from Columbia City to South Bend and North Liberty to Union Mills, Mr. Obama’s appearances resembled the early days of a campaign for the White House, unfolding throughout the day as a rolling introductory tour, absent much presidential glamour.
The city librarian delivered a glowing introduction of Mr. Obama at the assisted living center here. Later, a farmer offered an endorsement before the senator met voters at the Dairy Beef Building at the county fairgrounds. By evening, he loosened his tie and sat down at a picnic table as he made small talk with a family on an Indiana farm.
For days, the controversy surrounding Mr. Wright had threatened to overtake Mr. Obama’s message in the critical closing days of the Indiana and North Carolina primary campaigns.
Frustrated by the attention the story had received from the news media and pained by being forced to denounce Mr. Wright publicly, Mr. Obama appeared tired, worn and rambling during a late-night appearance on Wednesday in Bloomington.
But if presidential campaigns are built upon stagecraft and images, this is the picture his strategists wanted to project on Thursday: He was talking, listening — and, they hoped, connecting — with older, white residents of Indiana, the kind of voters he struggled to win over in Pennsylvania.
At the Oak Pointe center, he was intent on shaking hands with each of the 52 residents seated in easy chairs and wheelchairs and on sofas. A few hours later, he rolled up his sleeves and drank a can of Budweiser as he talked with a group of men at a V.F.W. club.
Neither the candidate nor his advisers are certain how the storm surrounding his relationship with Mr. Wright will play out among voters here or in the states remaining in the final month of the Democratic primary calendar. But as the campaign enters its 16th month, Mr. Obama is suddenly redoubling his efforts to introduce himself and answer questions that have settled into the political narrative: Who is he? Is he like us?
“You want to know my values?” Mr. Obama asked a group of voters on a recent evening. “Let me tell you about my family.”
So he tells most audiences now the story of his Kansas-born grandparents, particularly that of his grandfather, who fought in World War II and is buried in Punchbowl Cemetery in Hawaii. His mother — a single mother — saw to it that he got the best education. It is, he concludes, a living example of the American dream.
Although Mr. Obama’s presidential candidacy sprang from his autobiography, his story is far less concrete. If Senator John McCain is known as a war hero, a maverick, a temperamental warrior, and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is known as a smart political figure, toughened by years of crisis, Mr. Obama remains unformed.
“Because we’ve been so successful, that’s why my opponents have been trying to make this election about me lately,” Mr. Obama said, to a large crowd on Wednesday evening in Bloomington. “ ‘We’re not sure he shares our values. We haven’t seen him wear a flag pin lately. He’s got a funny name. He says he’s Christian, but we don’t know. His former pastor said some terrible things and so, can we really trust this guy?’ ”
In near unison, the audience replied, “Yes!”
Obama Leaves the Stage to Mix With His Skeptics
Before asking for their votes, Mr. Obama has started to conclude nearly every one of his campaign events with a forceful recitation of his values. He blames his rivals for stirring up questions about his background, saying, “They can’t win on the ideas, they can’t win on the issues.”
But as Mr. Obama heard for himself, those concerns are on people’s minds. At a campaign stop outside South Bend, a man asked a question about trade and before he finished, he added: “I’ve been reading on the Internet that you believe as an American we should not have to pledge allegiance to the flag. Is that true?”
“It is not. That is completely bogus,” Mr. Obama replied tersely. “These e-mails have been sent around in each state I’m about to go into. It’s a smear campaign they’ve been running since the beginning of the campaign. I lead the Pledge of Allegiance when I’m presiding in the Senate, so you can catch it on videotape.”
To lighten the day, Mr. Obama also turned to humor. A crew from “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central followed him around Indiana. He delivered the Top 10 list on “Late Show with David Letterman.” He did not mention Mr. Wright but did poke fun at himself on No. 6, saying: “Earlier today, I bowled a 39,” a reference to his actual score of 37 he bowled last month in Pennsylvania.
But the laughter belied a trying week. Although angered by the distraction — and feeling betrayed by Mr. Wright — Mr. Obama maintained a calm sense of certainty, associates said, and urged his campaign aides to focus on the race.
At four campaign events, the subject of Mr. Wright was not broached publicly on Thursday. It was, though, on the minds of several voters who filled his small audiences.
Betty McManama, an 87-year-old resident of the retirement center, has carefully followed the Democratic primary. She disagreed strongly with Mr. Wright’s remarks about the United States government, but she said she did not believe the senator should be punished for them. She said she felt that questions of religion, patriotism and values were an excuse.
“I think there’s a certain percentage of people who won’t vote for him because he’s black, and I think that’s a shame,” said Ms. McManama, who started the day on Thursday not sure which Democratic candidate to support. But after meeting Mr. Obama, she said: “I’m leaning toward him. How could you not?”
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Joe Andrew switches sides from Hillary to Barack Obama for President
Article:
Democratic National Committee Chairman Under Bill Clinton, Joe Andrew from Indiana, Unites Behind Obama
Vote As Though Your Life Depends On It
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