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The Obama Foreign Policy Forum - This Tuesday

by: Sarah Sewall

Sun Nov 25, 2007 at 15:25:06 PM EST


I've spent a career in foreign policy and national security, but it doesn't take an expert to know that after eight years of the Bush Administration's narrow-minded foreign policy and disastrous war in Iraq, our next president will urgently face enormous challenges in restoring America's global leadership.

We must renew America's image and show a new face to the world after eight years of alienating our allies and refusing to engage our enemies.

We must end a misguided war and restore a military stretched to the breaking point by a war that has already cost hundreds of billions of dollars and thousands of lives while distracting us from the real threat of Al-Qaeda and making us less safe.

We must reclaim our nation's values by rejecting torture and the violation of our civil liberties, and by trusting in our Constitution and proud legacy of individual freedoms.

We must proactively and patiently use all of our nation's strength - diplomatic, economic, and intelligence - to lead the world instead of relying solely upon military power because we ignored or rejected other options.

We must rebuild strong alliances and rally international action to combat the common enemies of the 21st - terrorism and nuclear weapons, poverty and disease, genocide and climate change.

We must genuinely redefine American leadership and challenge conventional Washington thinking, so that hope triumphs over fear in a world with real danger and unconventional challenges.

This is what America needs, and it will take bold leadership to meet this challenge.  

Sarah Sewall :: The Obama Foreign Policy Forum - This Tuesday
I'm supporting Senator Barack Obama because he has the courage, the judgment, and the vision to achieve these goals, and to meet the unanticipated new challenges that are certain to arise. True leadership is based upon courage, not driven by fear. True leadership calls us to our better selves, to come together, and to summon our collective courage to create the world we wish for. Barack Obama has proven that he understands our changing world, thinks unconventionally, speaks forthrightly, and fights for his ideals. On the day he is inaugurated, he will fundamentally transform the way the world thinks about America, and what we expect of ourselves.

Barack Obama is the leader who will speak directly to nations and peoples disillusioned with America's policies.  His life both abroad and here at home reflects his deep understanding of the universal human struggle for dignity and security. He recognizes that our security and future are increasingly linked to those of others. And Obama knows that America cannot just stand against terrorism, it must stand for freedom, hope and opportunity for all and for common security and international stability.  

He offers a comprehensive foreign policy vision that combines national values and interests and reflects America at its best. He has developed concrete policies and initiatives to fulfill that vision - from doubling investment in international economic development and helping others build prosperity and peace; to calling Americans to service and launching a new era of American diplomacy; to creating a Shared Security Partnership to fight terrorism and training other nations to protect their citizens; to helping secure all loose nuclear materials and leading toward a world without nuclear weapons.

Obama offers smart, strong, and sustainable policy alternatives at this crucial juncture in our history.  Not only did he have the courage and judgment to oppose the Iraq War from the start; his plan to end that war reflects understanding of the broader regional context and America's long-term interests.  Not only is he standing up to the saber-rattling toward Iran; he's offering a credible alternative path to security through vigorous presidential diplomacy.  

Obama's foreign policy represents not just a break from the Bush-Cheney years of failed foreign policy, but from the decades of conventional thinking that led us to this perilous moment in our history.

It is no coincidence that one of the most secretive Administrations in history has pursued disastrous and deceitful international policies. This stands in stark contrast to Barack Obama's commitment to openness and his honesty about where he stands on the tough issues. Consistent with this commitment, Obama will host a foreign policy forum with New Hampshire residents on Tuesday, November 27th.  

The forum will bring together scholars and soldiers, national security experts and university professors, for a participatory discussion with New Hampshire voters about the foreign policy challenges we face and the kind of leadership and action it will take to tackle them.

There, Senator Obama and I will be joined by leading local and national Obama advisors and foreign policy experts, all of whom share my belief that it's time for a fundamental change in our foreign policy - time for a 21st century vision that replaces empty threats with smart, tough diplomacy, and regains our moral leadership by staying true to the values and ideals on which America was built.  Panels will feature:

•     Richard Danzig - Former Secretary of the Navy under President Clinton
•     Tony Lake - National Security Advisor to President Clinton
•     Adm. John Hutson (USN Ret.) - Bow, NH resident; Dean of Franklin Pierce Law Center; former U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General and nationally-known torture expert
•     Samantha Power - Pulitzer Prize-winning author and renowned professor of human rights and foreign policy
•     Susan Rice - Former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs
•     Gen. Jim Smith (USAF Ret.) - Salem, NH resident; retired U.S. Air Force Brigadier General
•     Ryan Gray (USMC Ret.) - Goffstown, NH resident; served two tours in Iraq with the Marine Corps

I hope you can join us online for this important discussion about our nation's security challenges and how Barack Obama's strength and vision can help create a safer and more hopeful world.

For more information, please visit nh.barackobama.com/fpforum

Sarah Sewall
Disclosure:  I am the Faculty Director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy and served in the Department of Defense as the first Deputy Assistant Secretary for Peacekeeping and Humanitarian Assistance during the Clinton Administration.  I am supporting Sen. Barack Obama for President.

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Obama Foreign Policy Panel (0.00 / 0)
I have pieced together what was readily available-SGS

Richard Danzig

is the Sam Nunn Prize Fellow in International Security at the CSIS. He is also a consultant to the Department of Defense on terrorism, with a focus on bioterrorism. Mr. Danzig is a director of Human Genome Sciences Corporation, National Semiconductor Corporation, and Saffron Hill Ventures, a British venture capital fund. He served as secretary of the Navy from 1998 to 2001 and undersecretary of the Navy from 1993 to 1997. From 1977 to 1981, Mr. Danzig served in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense, first as a deputy assistant secretary and then as the principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for manpower, reserve affairs, and logistics. In 1981, he was awarded the Defense Distinguished Public Service Award. He received that same honor-the highest Department of Defense civilian award-twice more, in 1997 and 2001 for his work with the Navy and Marine Corps. Between 1981 and 1993, Mr. Danzig was a partner in the law firm of Latham and Watkins. He received a B.A. degree from Reed College, a J.D. degree from Yale Law School, and a B.A. in philosophy and Ph.D. degree from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar.

Anthony Lake

(born April 2, 1939 in New York City) was the National Security Advisor under US President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 1997. Lake is credited with developing the policy that led to the resolution of the Bosnian War. He is currently a faculty member at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.
Lake was born in New York City and graduated from Harvard in 1961. He studied economics at Trinity College, Cambridge and later received a PhD from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University in 1974.
Lake joined the State Department in 1962 as an assistant to Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge during the Vietnam War. His State Department career included assignments as consul in Saigon (1963), vice consul in Hue (1964-65) and special assistant to the assistant to the president for National Security Affairs (1969-1970) in the Nixon administration. In 1969, he accompanied National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger on his first secret meeting with North Vietnamese negotiators in Paris. In 1970, he had a falling out with Kissinger over the Nixon administration's extension of the war to Cambodia and later wrote a book critical of Kissinger's approach to Africa.
After working for Maine Senator's Edmund Muskie's presidential campaign and a stint at the Carnegie Endowment and International Voluntary Services, Mr. Lake returned to the State Department in 1977 to serve as Director of Policy Planning for President Carter, a position he held until 1981.
When Ronald Reagan came into office in 1981, Lake withdrew into academia, becoming a professor at Amherst College in Massachusetts. In 1984, he moved to Mount Holyoke College, where he has taught courses on the Vietnam War, Third World revolutions, and American foreign policy. During the 1992 presidential campaign, he was one of candidate Clinton's chief foreign policy advisers. Following Clinton's 1996 reelection victory, Lake was nominated for CIA Director, but his nomination was withdrawn due to Republican opposition.
He is an Advisory Board member for the Partnership for a Secure America, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to recreating the bipartisan center in American national security and foreign policy.
Lake is currently serving as the foreign policy adviser for Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign.

Dean John Hutson Endorses Obama

By Eddie Lee, NH Obama Staff - Oct 30th, 2007 at 1:00 pm EDT
John Hutson, Dean of Franklin Pierce Law Center and former Judge Advocate General of the U.S. Navy, announced his support for Barack Obama today.  Hutson endorsed Obama as best candidate to move the country beyond our failed foreign policy and restore our moral leadership in the world, citing Obama's unifying leadership, his early stand against the war in Iraq, and his belief in strong, personal diplomacy with friend and foe.
Now a resident of Bow, Hutson served as a judge advocate in the United States Navy from 1972-2000.  He has served as President and Dean of Franklin Pierce Law Center since 2000.  Dean Hutson was a registered Republican until changing his party affiliation this month to vote for Obama in the primary.

Sarah Sewall

is the Director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy and a Lecturer in Public Policy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Her current research focuses on counterinsurgency and terrorism. She also runs the Carr Center's National Security and Human Rights Program, which facilitates dialogue between the humanitarian and military perspectives. During the Clinton Administration, Sewall served in the Department of Defense as the first Deputy Assistant Secretary for Peacekeeping and Humanitarian Assistance. From 1987-1993, she served as Senior Foreign Policy Advisor to Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell, delegate to the Senate Arms Control Observer Group, and on the Senate Democratic Policy Committee. Sewall has also worked at a variety of defense research organizations and as Associate Director of the Committee on International Security Studies at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She was lead editor of The United States and the International Criminal Court: National Security and International Law (2000) and has written widely on U.S. foreign policy, national security, and military intervention. She is a member of the Center for Naval Analyses Defense Advisory Committee, the National Academies Committee on Offensive Information Warfare, and founder of the White House Projects National Security Boot Camp. She is writing a book about civilian harm in war. Sewall graduated from Harvard College and Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar.

Selected Publication Citations
Book Chapters
Sewall, Sarah. "Introduction to the University of Chicago Press edition. A Radical Field Manual." The U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual. Ed. United States Army and United States Marine Corps. University of Chicago Press, 2007, xxi-xliii.
  Magazine and Newspaper Articles
Sewall, Sarah. "Crafting a New Counterinsurgency Doctrine." Foreign Service Journal (September 2007): 33-40.
Sewall, Sarah. "Modernizing U.S. Counterinsurgency: Rethinking Risk and Developing a National Strategy." Military Review September-October 2006: 103-109.
  Op-Eds
Sewall, Sarah. "Ethics on the Battlefield." San Francisco Chronicle, July 1, 2007.
Sewall, Sarah. "A Heavy Hand in Afghanistan." Boston Globe, June 15, 2007.
Sewall, Sarah. "He Wrote the Book: Can He Follow It?" Washington Post, February 25, 2007.
Sewall, Sarah. "Blinded by Haditha." New York Times, June 13, 2006.
Sewall, Sarah. "Defining Success." Boston Globe, January 22, 2006.
  Research Papers/Reports
Sewall, Sarah. "Learning and Integration: Escalation of Force Procedures and Traffic Control Point Operations." Project on the Means of Intervention, Carr Center for Human Rights Policy and U.S. Army PKSOI, with U.S. Army CALL, March 26-27, 2007.
Sewall, Sarah, ed. "Implementing the Rule of Law and Human Rights in Stability Operations." Project on the Means of Intervention, Carr Center for Human Rights Policy and U.S. Army Judge Advocate General's Legal Center, September 25-26, 2006.
  Reviews
Sewall, Sarah. Review of Running the World: The Inside Story of the National Security Council and the Architects of American Power, by David Rothkopf. Parameters: U.S. Army War College Quarterly, XXXVI.1 Spring 2006.

Samantha Power

is the Anna Lindh Professor of Practice of Global Leadership and Public Policy, based at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, where she was the founding executive director, 1998-2002. Her book "A Problem from Hell": America and the Age of Genocide was awarded the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction, the 2003 National Book Critics Circle Award for general nonfiction, and the Council on Foreign Relations' Arthur Ross Prize for the best book in U.S. foreign policy. Power's New Yorker article on the horrors in Darfur, Sudan, won the 2005 National Magazine Award for best reporting. In 2007, Power became a foreign policy columnist at Time magazine. From 1993 to 1996 she covered the wars in the former Yugoslavia as a reporter for the U.S. News and World Report, the Boston Globe, and The Economist. She remains a working journalist, reporting from such places as Burundi, East Timor, Kosovo, Rwanda, Sudan, and Zimbabwe, and contributing to the Atlantic Monthly, The New Yorker and The New York Review of Books. Power is the editor, with Graham Allison, of Realizing Human Rights: Moving from Inspiration to Impact. A graduate of Yale University and Harvard Law School, she moved to the United States from Ireland at the age of nine. She spent 2005 to 2006 working in the office of Senator Barack Obama. Her most recent work, a political biography of UN's Sergio Vieira de Mello, will be published by Penguin Press in February 2008.

Selected Publication Citations
  Books
Power, Samantha. "A Problem from Hell:" America and the Age of Genocide, Paperback Edition. Perennial, 2003.
Power, Samantha. "A Problem from Hell:" America and the Age of Genocide. Basic, 2002.
  Magazine and Newspaper Articles
Power, Samantha. "The U.S. and Turkey: Honesty Is the Best Policy." TIME (October 18, 2007).
Power, Samantha. "The Human-Rights Vacuum." TIME (October 11, 2007).
Power, Samantha. "Access Denied." TIME (September 26, 2007).
  Op-Eds
Power, Samantha. "How to Stop Genocide in Iraq." Los Angeles Times, March 5, 2007.
Power, Samantha. "Quizzing Robert Gates." New York Times, December 4, 2006.
  Reviews
Power, Samantha. "Our War on Terror." Review of U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual; Containment: Rebuilding a Strategy Against Global Terror; and On Suicide Bombing, by U.S. Army/Marine Corps, Ian Shapiro, and Talal Asad, respectively. New York Times Book Review, July 29, 2007.
Power, Samantha. "United it Wobbles: Should We Blame the U.N. for its Shortcomings, or the Countries that Make Up the World Body?" Review of The Best Intentions: Kofi Annan and the UN in the Era of American World Power, by James Traub and Complicity with Evil: The United Nations in the Age of Modern Genocide, by Adam LeBor Washington Post, January 7, 2007.

Susan Rice,

a former assistant secretary of state for African Affairs, focuses on U.S. foreign policy, weak and failing states, the implications of global poverty and transnational security threats.
Expertise
Africa; war on terrorism; weak and failed states; foreign assistance; international peacekeeping and conflict resolution; national security policymaking; post-conflict reconstruction; trade, development issues; UN affairs and multilateral diplomacy

RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
AFRICA
The Genocide in Darfur: America Must Do More to Fulfill the Responsibility to Protect2007
Dithering on Darfur: U.S. Inaction in the Face of GenocideApril 11, 2007
The Escalating Crisis in DarfurFebruary 21, 2007

POVERTY
Top Ten Global Economic Challenges: An Assessment of Global Risks and PrioritiesFebruary 2007
Global Poverty, Weak States, and InsecurityAugust 2006
The Threat of Global PovertySpring 2006

DEFENSE
Strengthening Weak States: A 21st Century ImperativeAugust 2006
U.S. National Security Policy Post-9/11: Perils and ProspectsSeptember 29, 2003
More Research and Commentary »

Brig. Gen. James B. Smith

retired from the U.S. Air Force as a brigadier general and served as Commander, Joint Warfighting Center, U.S.Joint Forces Command, Joint Training Analysis and Simulation Center.  He was responsible for managing the joint force exercise and training development program and the modeling, simulation and deploying of solutions that demonstrated high probability of operational success.  His previous assignments included Commander, 18th Wing; Vice Director for Operations, Headquarters North American Aerospace Defense Command; Commander, 325th Operations Group; and CSAF Chair, National War College.  He obtained Command Pilot flight rating with approximately 4,000 flight hours.
Smith is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy with a bachelor's degree in military history; he has a master's degree in history from Indiana University.
Gen. Smith currently lives in NH.

Ryan Gray:
Heeding the Call of Duty - Ryan Gray's Story

By Matt Lehrich, NH Obama Staff - Sep 13th, 2007 at 6:45 pm EDT

For all of his life, Ryan Gray has heeded the call of duty.  Duty to his country led him to enlist in the Marine Corps and volunteer to serve in Iraq.  Duty to his fellow Marines compelled him to volunteer for a second tour.
Having left active duty, Ryan follows the call of another duty, as a father and a husband.  Though his love for his country is undiminished, Ryan is committed to ensuring that his 3-month old son, Sean, grows up with a devoted father to guide him.  
Ryan is also a member of the Obama for New Hampshire Veterans Steering Committee.  
This is his story.



SGS is Jack Mitchell of Lowell, MA. The symbolism of the "sleeping giant" is based on my HOPE for America.

Telegraphing (0.00 / 0)
It would be interesting to hear the panels thoughts on this during the webcast.

The Responsibility to Protect

Report of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty
The so-called "right of humanitarian intervention" has been one of the most controversial foreign policy issues of the last decade - both when intervention has happened, as in Kosovo, and when it has failed to happen, as in Rwanda. United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in his report to the 2000 General Assembly, challenged the international community to try to forge consensus, once and for all, around the basic questions of principle and process involved: when should intervention occur, under whose authority, and how. The independent International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty was established by the Government of Canada in September 2000 to respond to that challenge.

The Commission's report, The Responsibility to Protect, is the culmination of twelve months of intensive research, worldwide consultations and deliberation. It has been formally presented to Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the United Nations community, where it will hopefully help build a new consensus in the debate the Commission was mandated to advance. The full text of the report is contained in this website.

The research and consultations which laid the foundations for the Commission's report have been compiled and published as a supplementary volume entitled The Responsibility to Protect: Research, Bibliography, Background. The contents of this volume are contained in their entirety in this website, and we have also presented them broken-down into the three key parts of the volume for ease of navigation. The first part contains background research in the form of nine substantial research essays; the second part is a comprehensive new bibliography; and the third, about the Commission, contains background information on how the Commission functioned and summaries of the consultations held around the world during its year-long mandate. This work, like the report itself, should prove a quarry for scholars, specialists and policy makers for many years to come.



SGS is Jack Mitchell of Lowell, MA. The symbolism of the "sleeping giant" is based on my HOPE for America.

This is not good news. (0.00 / 0)
I don't think sitting public officials should be involved in the campaigns of other actual or potential public officials anyway.  But this use of his PAC would seem to violate the principle that PACs are not an appropriate vehicle for funding campaigns.


Clinton Campaign Responds To New Revelations About Obama Campaign Finance Practices

In response to a report this morning in the Washington Post revealing that Senator Obama's leadership PAC has given the majority of its campaign contributions to officials and committees in the early nominating states, the Clinton campaign released the following statement:

This morning, we learned that Senator Obama has been using his leadership PAC to give political contributions to officials in the early primary states.  In fact, 68 percent of contributions from his PAC have gone to those in states that are scheduled to hold nominating contests on February 5th or earlier.

It is our understanding that a candidate's campaign is barred from using the candidate's leadership PAC to benefit his or her campaign which is why we shut down HillPAC when Senator Clinton announced her run for the White House.

On the campaign trail, Senator Obama is outspoken about his desire to reform the campaign finance system so it was surprising to learn that he has been using his PAC in a manner that appears to be inconsistent with the prevailing election laws.  Considering how often Senator Obama talks about his efforts to be transparent, we presume he will answer the following questions regarding the behavior of his PAC:

1. Who decided what contributions would be made by Hopefund?

2. Did any presidential campaign staff, consultants or advisors participate in any discussions about Hopefund contributions?  Who?

3. Did the decision-makers know who was endorsing the presidential campaign?  If so, how did they find this out?

4. Who told Hopefund which Iowa and New Hampshire candidates and committees should get contributions?

5. Are there any overlapping employees, consultants and advisors between Hopefund and the presidential campaign?

6. The Washington Post article suggests that Hopefund was dormant earlier in the year. Who made the decision to start making contributions again and on what basis was that decision made?



Timing is....desperation (0.00 / 0)
You know I was standing around in September at the NH Dems Booth at the Hillsborough Fair, vet outreach stuff. Anyways, one of the NHDems was telling me how great it was that Barack was supporting the NHDP and that it would be nice if the other presidential hopefuls would be as kind. He stated some had, but that one could never have too much help, especially in certain areas that were challenged by the NHGOP.

Not knowing much about NH politics, I nodded agreeably and moved the conversation on to the gigundous pumpkins at our feet.

Sooooooooo, what is all this I here about a startling revelation that the Hillary consultants have been hording for a rainy day. The proverbial "molehill calling the kettle in a teacup."

According to the F-word:

Clinton Bores Into Obama PAC's Distribution of Money in Primary States

Monday, November 26, 2007

-snip-
Obama's campaign responded later Monday to Clinton's attack, calling it a "false attempt to misrepresent" him.
"Whatever happened to the confident frontrunner who said she wouldnt attack other Democrats just two weeks ago?" spokesman Bill Burton said in a release. "The latest personal attack from Hillary Clinton is a completely false attempt to misrepresent Barack Obamas full disclosure of his campaign finances.
"Senator Obama's commitment to disclosure is one that Hillary Clinton does not share, and until Senator Clinton is willing to make this commitment - by disclosing her White House records, the list of donors to her husbands presidential library, how much her bundlers raise, and releasing her personal tax returns to the public - she's not really in a position to point fingers at others."
Presidential race costs and contributions are monitored and regulated by the Federal Election Commission, but rules governing the use of leadership PAC money during a presidential race are murky. Lawmakers with party star power tend to use leadership PACs to raise more money than they normally would - money that they then distribute to less well-known candidates.
-snip-
Obama spokesman Joshua Earnest also denied that there was any connection between the PAC's giving and Obama's presidential aspirations.
"Senator Obama long has been doing whatever he can to help elect fellow Democrats all across the country," Earnest said, according to The Post.

The noose polls are tightening, Hannah.

You don't like party hocus pocus. No one does, but conventional politics will not just slip away. It just sucks when it stabs you in the back for being swell.

SGS is Jack Mitchell of Lowell, MA. The symbolism of the "sleeping giant" is based on my HOPE for America.


[ Parent ]
Obama's munificence (0.00 / 0)
I still don't like it

Among the local officials who received $1,000 from Obama's Hopefund PAC were New Hampshire state senators Harold Janeway, Jackie Cilley and Martha Fuller Clark. All have endorsed Obama.

The PAC also contributed $1,000 each to Sens. Iris Estabrook, Kathleen Sgambati and Lou D'Allesandro, all of whom later endorsed Hillary Rodham Clinton. The PAC gave $6,000 to Gov. John Lynch's campaign war chest; Lynch has not endorsed in the presidential contest.

Ten county Democratic committees in New Hampshire received $1,000 each from Obama's PAC and the state Democratic Party received $5,000. The Iowa Senate Majority fund and the Iowa House Truman Fund, political groups that assist local legislative candidates, received $30,000 each from the PAC. Their New Hampshire counterparts received $15,000 each.

The Hopefund also contributed to 62 Democratic senators, congressmen and federal candidates across the country in contributions ranging from $2,500 to $5,000. Among the recipients were Democratic Reps. Carol Shea-Porter and Paul Hodes of New Hampshire, who received $4,000 each, and U.S. Senate candidate Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, $5,000.

I particularly object to monetary contributions before the primary is even held.  No wonder the media are pretending there's only one Democrat in the Senate race!  It's one thing to make presents to county and town Democratic committees, or even the DNC; it's another to fund individuals.


[ Parent ]
Low blow (0.00 / 0)
Why does the worst in you come out, when it comes to Obama?

Hannah,
You are borderline TROLL on this thread. I respect your right to speak on the subject, it is timely and relevant, although the story is fundamentally flawed in its suggestions.

In the future, please save such material for your own diary or an open thread. Especially if you want to use this thread to attack Jeanne Shaheen.

Are you damning Obama just to dig at Shaheen? Why don't you take that over to Kathy's diary about the Gov.'s wife endorsing Clinton?

Or were you merely getting it out of your system over here in the shadows.



SGS is Jack Mitchell of Lowell, MA. The symbolism of the "sleeping giant" is based on my HOPE for America.


[ Parent ]
Gee, thanks. (4.00 / 1)
I really appreciate that my right to express an opinion is respected.
If you were here during the Shea-Porter campaign, you will recall that there was an effort to ignore that we had four candidates and to promote one with visits from Nancy Pelosi and fat contributions from the DCCC.  I objected to that on the grounds that elected officials should not be funding other candidates.  I know it's not illegal.  I just don't think it's right.  I think a political party should succeed on its policies not on the votes of office holders it buys.

To object to Obama making a gift to Shaheen and leaving our other candidate out has nothing to do with Shaheen.  The recipients of gifts are put in a very awkward position because it is rude to turn down a gift.  That's why we have laws prohibiting them--to make it easy to say "no thank you."
Keeping that in mind, I have suggested to the Buckey campaign that they remind the HopePAC that they are in the race.  Sometimes when the press doesn't give a candidate any coverage, people from far away don't know they exist.  (I seem to remember John Kerry being prompted to endorse a candidate in Florida by the DCCC and then later discovering that endorsee still had to be selected in the primary).

Anyway, the reason I showed up was to see if anyone had reported on the article in Salon about Obama being hip to Margaret Mead.

Barack Obama is hip to Margaret Mead

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. -- No presidential candidate in history -- not the polymath Thomas Jefferson, not the orator William Jennings Bryan, not the egghead Adlai Stevenson -- has ever uttered a sentence like this: "My mother was an anthropologist [and] the Margaret Mead reference I'm always hip to."

The speaker (no surprise) was Barack Obama, whose late mother, Ann Dunham, earned a master's degree in anthropology from the University of Hawaii. The Margaret Mead comment was sparked by a questioner who had announced that he was a former student of the author of "Coming of Age in Samoa." But the phrase "I'm always hip to" was pure Obama.



[ Parent ]
This Salon article (0.00 / 0)
is very complimentary. Thanks. I shall bring it out to the light of day.

Mead is cool. I'm more of a Joseph Campbell, kinda dude.

SGS is Jack Mitchell of Lowell, MA. The symbolism of the "sleeping giant" is based on my HOPE for America.


[ Parent ]
Umbrage. (0.00 / 0)
I'm sorry but I really take umbrage at this statement:

Why does the worst in you come out, when it comes to Obama?

No way should this

Obama's munificence  (0.00 / 0)
I still don't like it......

I particularly object to monetary contributions before the primary is even held.  No wonder the media are pretending there's only one Democrat in the Senate race!  It's one thing to make presents to county and town Democratic committees, or even the DNC; it's another to fund individuals.

be considered my worst. I think the following about John Kerry might qualify.

February 12, 2004 Kerry's rep

Hannah @ 12:20 pm  
The Boston Globe, which knows its "favorite son" best, has three op-eds this morning contrasting the Massachusetts native with the shrub. There's the real warrior versus paternal protector model from Ellen Goodman, the liberal versus liar model in Joan Vennochi's column and then there's Jeff Jacobi's column from which it is only possible to conclude that the proper designation for the presumptive Democratic nominee is "flip-flop Kerry."

While I am inclined to agree with all three commentators, I'm not sure the liberal-liar comparison has it quite right. Because, though it isn't logically proper to call a promise about something that hasn't yet happened a lie, if it doesn't turn out as expected, surely in retrospect unkept promises that are repeated turn into lies.

I mean, isn't that what's happened with the shrub's claims about the WMD? Poor intelligence may have led him to make false promises before the attack and exploration of Iraq. But, after the evidence started accumulating that there are and were no WMD, the reassertion that they were there is a lie.

Indeed, when one looks at flip-flop Kerry's record of accomplishments, it's pretty obvious that he's only liberal in the sense of taking liberties with the truth. From which I at least have to conclude that the man is not to be trusted. But then his personal relationships with women should have told us that, shouldn't it?

That's just what the Democratic party needs, a Catholic liar going into Baptist country preaching courage and virtue and fidelity and truth!!!!

If we go for that, then we are really stupid and deserve to be misled by the shrub for another term.



[ Parent ]
I'll take Door #1 (0.00 / 0)
Seems like "empty suit" is rather cordial when you put it that way, Hannah.

I don't agree, but hey, AMERICA!

SGS is Jack Mitchell of Lowell, MA. The symbolism of the "sleeping giant" is based on my HOPE for America.


[ Parent ]
Transparency (0.00 / 0)
Hope you come to check it out at today's webcast.  

SGS is Jack Mitchell of Lowell, MA. The symbolism of the "sleeping giant" is based on my HOPE for America.

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