Obama: I'm not moving to the right

The Republicans are desperately attempting to turn the race into a referendum about Barack Obama. Their guy McCain is the true flip flopper. And because eight years of Bush, combined with twelve years of a GOP Congress have made a shambles of America's moral standing, it's economy, and it's capacity to lead.

The GOP knows McCain is so lame, they'll never win on his merits. So they return to the old playbook; attack and smear. If they cannot demonize Obama, they lose. They know it.

Fortunately, Obama is smarter, tougher, better organized than any Democrat in recent times. His challenge is to make the case to the American people that we need to turn the page from the last eight years, and that he's the leader to make it happen.

Mcain is not the one running on 'Change'. It is the scoundrel Obama. He is an opportunist. If Obama has been flip-flopping, who else is? I don't care for Mcain, but he is not the one who says he is going to change the way things are done in Washington. Obama has peddled every principle of his to become president. I don't think he will be made president. He has no balls.

I'm not moving to the right, he insists, as he dances away from the left. It's the Earth that is shifting. I'm staying where I was.

Vote for CHANGE, Vote for Hope, CHANGE you can believe in. I have not CHANGE my position on Iraq, I know that we just can't PULL our troops out just like that. There must be an Honorable Pullout, a shift in strategy. I also have a plan for the economy and skyrocking price on gas, we will not drill for more oil, we will not build more refinaries, we will not build more nuclear plants, we just need to raise TAX on income. Raising tax is the answer to everything, the rich must pay to support the poor. As my mentor and pastor have said, "God Damn America" , I mean God bless america.

strut2k wrote:

The Republicans are desperately attempting to turn the race into a referendum about Barack Obama. Their guy McCain is the true flip flopper. And because eight years of Bush, combined with twelve years of a GOP Congress have made a shambles of America's moral standing, it's economy, and it's capacity to lead.
The GOP knows McCain is so lame, they'll never win on his merits. So they return to the old playbook; attack and smear. If they cannot demonize Obama, they lose. They know it.
Fortunately, Obama is smarter, tougher, better organized than any Democrat in recent times. His challenge is to make the case to the American people that we need to turn the page from the last eight years, and that he's the leader to make it happen.

The buzz on the blogs is that they will do as the tools here do...just make sh*t up. The goal is simply to generate a sense of unease with Obama that will cause low information voters to vote McCain. McCain has just done another shakeup of his campaign and brought in Bush's 2004 campaign manager to run his shop, and hooked up with some of the Swift Boat Liars. The only thing we can do is break up the echo chamber with as much reality as possible.

I'm sure Obama has studied the 2004 campaign and developed strategies. I remain amazed at the venality of these GOP thugs.

I wish I weren't an atheist. I would pray.

Bystander wrote:

I'm not moving to the right, he insists, as he dances away from the left. It's the Earth that is shifting. I'm staying where I was.

Is there a right on?

The swill from Newsmax is simply propaganda. It doesn't belong in polite company.

Here's the real story, for those are interested in real information:

July 8, 2008, 12:38 pm
Obama Addresses Critics on ‘Centrist’ Moves

Barack Obama had heard quite enough of the complaints that he is pirouetting, leaping, lurching even, toward the political center.

He is at heart, he told a crowd in suburban Atlanta, a pretty progressive guy who just happens to pack along a complicated world view.

“Look, let me talk about the broader issue, this whole notion that I am shifting to the center,” he said.“The people who say this apparently haven’t been listening to me.”

To this, he adds, parenthetically:“And I must say some of this is my friends on the left” and those in the media.

“I am someone who is no doubt progressive,” he said, adding that he believes in universal health care and that government has a strong role to play in overseeing financial institutions and cracking down on abuses in bankruptcies and the like....

“I believe in a whole lot of things that make me progressive and put me squarely in the Democratic camp,” he said. But, he noted, he does not believe that the active hand of government is a replacement, say, for parental responsibility in education.

“I believe in personal responsibility, I also believe in faith,” he said.“That’s not something new; I’ve been talking about that for years. So the notion that this is me trying to look”– he waves his hands around his head –“centrist is not true.”

Mr. Obama, in fact, has written and spoken in favor of a role for religious institutions in the provision of social services, and in his book “The Audacity of Hope” he appeared to endorse the death penalty for child rapists.

As for gun control, Obama said he long has believed that the Second Amendment protects the individual right to bear arms.“That doesn’t mean that I don’t think we need decent controls” on guns, he said.“Those two positions are not contradictory.”

“One of the things you find as you go through this campaign, everyone becomes so cynical about politics,” Mr. Obama said. There is an “assumption that your must be doing everything for political reasons.”

Voters should understand, he said, that they rarely will find themselves in 100 percent agreement with him.“But don’t assume that’s because I’m just doing it for “political reasons, he said.

“That just means we disagree,” he said.

At which point he returned to Iraq, an issue where he has wavered very little from the stance he took many months ago. He favors a phased-in 16-month withdrawal. The McCain campaign has labored hard to suggest that he is inconsistent on this issue.

“We have to be as careful getting out as we were careless getting in,” Obama said.“You’ve got to be sure our troops are safe, you have to be sure the country doesn’t collapse.”

“When I hear John McCain saying we can’t surrender, we can’t wave the white flag,” Obama said,“no one is talking about surrender.”

But, he added to loud applause,“don’t be confused: I will bring the Iraq war to a close when I am president of the United States of America.”
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/08...

Summer Rain wrote:

The swill from Newsmax is simply propaganda. It doesn't belong in polite company.
Here's the real story, for those are interested in real information:
July 8, 2008, 12:38 pm
Obama Addresses Critics on ‘Centrist’ Moves
Barack Obama had heard quite enough of the complaints that he is pirouetting, leaping, lurching even, toward the political center.
He is at heart, he told a crowd in suburban Atlanta, a pretty progressive guy who just happens to pack along a complicated world view.
“Look, let me talk about the broader issue, this whole notion that I am shifting to the center,” he said.“The people who say this apparently haven’t been listening to me.”
To this, he adds, parenthetically:“And I must say some of this is my friends on the left” and those in the media.
“I am someone who is no doubt progressive,” he said, adding that he believes in universal health care and that government has a strong role to play in overseeing financial institutions and cracking down on abuses in bankruptcies and the like....
“I believe in a whole lot of things that make me progressive and put me squarely in the Democratic camp,” he said. But, he noted, he does not believe that the active hand of government is a replacement, say, for parental responsibility in education.
“I believe in personal responsibility, I also believe in faith,” he said.“That’s not something new; I’ve been talking about that for years. So the notion that this is me trying to look”– he waves his hands around his head –“centrist is not true.”
Mr. Obama, in fact, has written and spoken in favor of a role for religious institutions in the provision of social services, and in his book “The Audacity of Hope” he appeared to endorse the death penalty for child rapists.
As for gun control, Obama said he long has believed that the Second Amendment protects the individual right to bear arms.“That doesn’t mean that I don’t think we need decent controls” on guns, he said.“Those two positions are not contradictory.”
“One of the things you find as you go through this campaign, everyone becomes so cynical about politics,” Mr. Obama said. There is an “assumption that your must be doing everything for political reasons.”
Voters should understand, he said, that they rarely will find themselves in 100 percent agreement with him.“But don’t assume that’s because I’m just doing it for “political reasons, he said.
“That just means we disagree,” he said.
At which point he returned to Iraq, an issue where he has wavered very little from the stance he took many months ago. He favors a phased-in 16-month withdrawal. The McCain campaign has labored hard to suggest that he is inconsistent on this issue.
“We have to be as careful getting out as we were careless getting in,” Obama said.“You’ve got to be sure our troops are safe, you have to be sure the country doesn’t collapse.”
“When I hear John McCain saying we can’t surrender, we can’t wave the white flag,” Obama said,“no one is talking about surrender.”
But, he added to loud applause,“don’t be confused: I will bring the Iraq war to a close when I am president of the United States of America.”
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/08...

That's a real report?

The reporter provided a whole lotta segues and transitions for Obama.

What were Obama's exact words?(Hmm... maybe it's too tough to transcribe all the eh's, ah's and oh's)

Summer Rain wrote:

<quoted text>
...I'm sure Obama has studied the 2004 campaign and developed strategies. I remain amazed at the venality of these GOP thugs.
I wish I weren't an atheist. I would pray.

Go ahead and pray. God doesn't give a damn that you're an atheist. He'll work with that...;)

Of course Obama flip flopped ... again.

His "complicated world view" does not have the best interests of Americans in mind.

He will be anything you want him to be, as long as you vote him into office. Then you'll find out the real deal behind Obama's smile.

Will someone please answer this question, since not even Obama himself can (or will) answer it?

What "change" does Obama stand for?

Come on, give it a shot.

Roy wrote:

<quoted text>
That's a real report?
The reporter provided a whole lotta segues and transitions for Obama.
What were Obama's exact words?(Hmm... maybe it's too tough to transcribe all the eh's, ah's and oh's)

I took Obama's words out of the article and put dots in to show the transitions. The software took them out.

I only have 4000 characters and no word counter. I judge by the width of the sidebar when I hit the limit.

strut2k wrote:

<quoted text>
Go ahead and pray. God doesn't give a damn that you're an atheist. He'll work with that...;)

WOW, there's a real Christian on the board? I was braced for all kinds of ugliness!

Thanks, I needed that.

You are so right strutz2k. Hopefully the american people all know the truth. Money corrupts, fearing god or not, OBAMA 09!

Proud to be a Homophobe wrote:

Of course Obama flip flopped ... again.
His "complicated world view" does not have the best interests of Americans in mind.
He will be anything you want him to be, as long as you vote him into office. Then you'll find out the real deal behind Obama's smile.
Will someone please answer this question, since not even Obama himself can (or will) answer it?
What "change" does Obama stand for?
Come on, give it a shot.

Short version:

“I am in this race to tell the corporate lobbyists
that their days of setting the agenda in
Washington are over. I have done more than
any other candidate in this race to take on
lobbyists – and won. They have not funded my
campaign, they will not get a job in my White
House, and they will not drown out the voices
of the American people when I am president.”
-- Barack Obama, Speech in Des Moines, IA, November 10, 2007

Brief version:

http://www.barackobama.com/issues/

Every policy point links to a page with explanation. Every page links to a more detailed .pdf of the policy points.

It's all there for the reading.

It is interesting to discover that Barack Obama is highly influenced by Emperor Haile Selassie.

Like Barack, Haile Selassie was born from parents of different ethnic backgrounds – in his case the three main Ethiopian ethnicities of Oromo, Amhara and Gurage.

After having played a leading role in the formation of the African Union, Haile Selassie was known as a uniting figure both inside Ethiopia and around Africa.

Barack Obama is inspired by the uniting efforts of Haile Selassie. Barack is inspired by the high quality of Selassie’s speeches and internationalist views and the promotion of multilateralism.

At the League of Nations in 1936, the Emperor's protest of the use of chemical weapons against his people foreshadowed not only the worldwide conflict that was to come, but also the advent of the technological "refinement of barbarism" that would come to mark modern warfare. Selassie was a gifted speaker, and some of his speeches have been counted among the most memorable of the twentieth century. His internationalist views led to Ethiopia's becoming a charter member of the United Nations, and his political thought and experience in promoting multilateralism and collective security have proved seminal and enduring.

Barack Obama is also impressed by Selassie’s ability to create a sence of stability in a continent overcome by conflict. The same kind of stability that Obama hopes he can bring to the American people.

Haile Selassie's 45-year reign made Ethiopia into a bulwark of sovereignty and stability on the African continent in the 20th century. As many African states were emerging from colonialism, Haile Selassie was modernizing Ethiopia's ancient African civilization. For most of his reign, he enjoyed immense popularity both at home and abroad.

Outside of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie continued to enjoy enormous prestige and respect. Haile Selassie was often given precedence over other leaders at state events, such as the state funerals of John F. Kennedy and Charles de Gaulle, the summits of the Non-Aligned Movement, and the 1971 celebration of the 2,500 years of the Persian Empire. His high profile and frequent travels around the world raised Ethiopia's international image.

All politicans will say anything to get elected,nobody should be surprised by this.He is the worst one I've seen though besides maybe John Edwards,neither of these guys give a damn about the country they just want to be president.How long has Obama been in the senate?How many terms did Edwards do?What office does he hold now?Both of these nerds are to femine to lead the country any way.

Barack Obama carried a copy of this speech with him during his college years.

In a 1968 Speech delivered to the United Nations Haile Selassie said

"That until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned: That until there are no longer first-class and second class citizens of any nation; That until the color of a man's skin is of no more significance than the color of his eyes; That until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to race; That until that day, the dream of lasting peace and world citizenship and the rule of international morality will remain but a fleeting illusion, to be pursued but never attained and until the ignoble but unhappy regimes that hold our brothers in Angola, in Mozambique, and in South Africa in subhuman bondage have been toppled and destroyed; until bigotry and prejudice and malicious and inhuman self-interest have been replaced by understanding and tolerance and goodwill; until all Africans stand and speak as free human beings, equal in the eyes of the Almighty; until that day, the African continent shall not know peace. We Africans will fight if necessary and we know that we shall win as we are confident in the victory of good over evil" (English translation)

Barack Obama thinks the repatriational effort of the Ethiopian World Federation was admirable and is a cause worth updating for the 21st Century.

In 1948 Emperor Haile Selassie I donated 500 acres (2.0 km²) of his private land to allow African-American EWF officers, members and other settlers from Jamaica including other parts of the Caribbean to return to their ancestral homeland in Africa, through auspices of the Ethiopian World Federation (EWF) founded in 1937 by the Emperor's special emmissary to Black America, Dr. Melaku E. Bayen.

Ethiopian World Federation

This organization originally came into being on August 25, 1937 in New York City, through the efforts of African (Black) Americans who, in 1936, sent a delegation consisting of three prominent Harlem figures, all leaders of the black organization known as the United Aid for Ethiopia. Reverend William Lloyd Imes, Pastor of the prestigious St. James Presbyterian Church, Philip M. Savory of the Victory Insurance Company and co-owner of the New York Amsterdam News, and Mr. Cyril M Philp, secretary of the United Aid

The main purpose was succinctly set out in the following preamble:

'“We the Black People of the World, in order to effect Unity, Solidarity, Liberty, Freedom and self-determination, to secure Justice and maintain the Integrity of Ethiopia, which is our divine heritage, do hereby establish and ordain this constitution for The Ethiopian World Federation, Incorporated."'

Alexander Hamilton Party wrote:

Barack Obama carried a copy of this speech with him during his college years.
In a 1968 Speech delivered to the United Nations Haile Selassie said
"That until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned: That until there are no longer first-class and second class citizens of any nation; That until the color of a man's skin is of no more significance than the color of his eyes; That until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to race; That until that day, the dream of lasting peace and world citizenship and the rule of international morality will remain but a fleeting illusion, to be pursued but never attained and until the ignoble but unhappy regimes that hold our brothers in Angola, in Mozambique, and in South Africa in subhuman bondage have been toppled and destroyed; until bigotry and prejudice and malicious and inhuman self-interest have been replaced by understanding and tolerance and goodwill; until all Africans stand and speak as free human beings, equal in the eyes of the Almighty; until that day, the African continent shall not know peace. We Africans will fight if necessary and we know that we shall win as we are confident in the victory of good over evil" (English translation)

What a wonderful quote. Duly copied into my quote collection. Incidentally, one of my uncles was consul to Ethiopia in the '60s. I'm sorry I was too young to question him.

How did you learn that Obama was interested in Haile Selassie?

Summer Rain wrote:

<quoted text>
Short version:
“I am in this race to tell the corporate lobbyists
that their days of setting the agenda in
Washington are over. I have done more than
any other candidate in this race to take on
lobbyists – and won. They have not funded my
campaign, they will not get a job in my White
House, and they will not drown out the voices
of the American people when I am president.”
-- Barack Obama, Speech in Des Moines, IA, November 10, 2007
Brief version:
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/
Every policy point links to a page with explanation. Every page links to a more detailed .pdf of the policy points.
It's all there for the reading.

Here's an even shorter version of what you need to know now:

1. Senator Obama supports the revised FISA.
http://www.betanews.com/article/Obama_change_...

2. Senator Obama supports preventative war.
http://article.nationalreview.com/print/...

3. Senator Obama supports the Bush administrations position of on Iraq : "Get out when it is prudent to do so."

It would seem a vote for Senator Obama would go a long way in validating the Bush administrations foreign policy legacy.