Barack Obama NOW!

Jonathan Singer of MyDD.com made some excellent points today about the ongoing debate over foreign policy:

After hearing John McCain join George W. Bush in attacking Barack Obama for being willing to speak with the Iranian leadership this past Thursday, I had a few questions:

I’d go even a step further and ask why John McCain is afraid to speak with Iran. What is it about Iran that scares McCain so much? Or is it that McCain believes Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Ayatollah Khamenei are so crafty that they would trick an American President into inadvertently ceding the state of Maine or American Samoa to Iran? Or alternatively, is it that McCain simply does not know how to act in a manner different from his true political role model, George W. Bush?

Obama, speaking today in Montana, seemed to have the same question on his mind:

Here’s the truth: the Soviet Union had thousands of nuclear weapons and Iran doesn’t have a single one. But when the world was on the brink of nuclear holocaust, Kennedy talked to Khrushchev and he got those missiles out of Cuba. Why shouldn’t we have the same courage and the confidence to talk to our enemies? That’s what strong countries do, that’s what strong presidents do, that’s what I’ll do when I’m president of the United States of America.

So, you know, for all their tough talk, one of the things you have to ask yourself is what are George Bush and John McCain afraid of? Demanding that a country meets all your conditions before you meet with them, that’s not a strategy; it’s just naïve, wishful thinking. I’m not afraid that we’ll lose some propaganda fight with a dictator. It’s time for America to win those battles, because we’ve watched George Bush lose them year after year after year. It’s time to restore our security and our standing in the world.

I point this out not to speak of some prescience on my part or to suggest that Obama has been cribbing off of MyDD. Instead I just say that I think this is exactly the right response to the isolationist-cum-jingoistic rhetoric coming from some in the upper echelons of the right these days, including George W. Bush and the man seeking to extend the Bush presidency for four more years — John McCain.

Yitzhak Rabin once famously said about negotiation with his onetime sworn enemies, the PLO and Yassir Arafat in particular, “You don’t make peace with friends. You make it with very unsavory enemies.” Likewise, John F. Kennedy wisely said during his inaugural address, “Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.”

I absolutely agree. This absolutely is the best response to McCain’s nonsense, and I’m glad Obama is demonstrating the proper leadership in this matter.

Read the full posting by clicking here.

With a tip of the hat to the Huffington Post, the Washington Post reported that Barack Obama had a massive crowd of 75,000 people to see him today in Portland, Oregon. To date, this is the biggest gathering of people that have gathered to see Obama, who inspired the largest crowds of the election

In other news, Mark Evanier commented on why Hillary Clinton wasn’t meant to be president:

If Hillary Clinton had voted against the War in Iraq — or even said she shouldn’t have — she’d be the next President of the United States.

This makes perfect sense to me. Hillary had an arrogance in denying her mistakes that rubbed me the wrong way - much like the guy currently in office.

Barack-Obama-Now is a blog created by a part-time procrastinator. An exercise by a motivated slacker to try and make a difference. A little push for renewed idealism by a recovering Dean activist.

As some of you might have noticed, this blog doesn’t get get updated as quickly as other Obama blogs. I just can’t do it - just too many other things going on in my life right now… so I’ll get to it when I get to it… when I find things that make me go “yeah!”

For those of you that want more Obama information, as quickly as possible, I’d recommend Twitter, the micro-blog social network. Here’s a few Twitter accounts to consider adding:

http://twitter.com/BarackObama
http://twitter.com/barackoblogger
http://twitter.com/twOBAMA
http://twitter.com/tigerbeat

The Washington Post has a nice article about Shepard Fairey, the man who designed the coolest Obama graphic I’ve ever seen.

All political art is propaganda (that is the point), but most political posters are bland, forgettable, wallpaper, like Fred Thompson on an off day. Fairey wanted something more iconic — aspirational, inspirational — and cool. In other words, he wanted to make posters that the cool cats would want. The 2008 Democratic primary season equivalent of the Che poster (with all that implies). More Mao, more right now. The kind of poster that might make its way onto dorm room walls of fanboys. The kind of poster that might sell on eBay, as a signed Fairey Obama recently did, for $5,900. He wanted his posters to go viral.

Click here to read more.

Media Matters has an amazing webpage dedicated to illustrating the tangled web of John McCain and the lobbyists on his campaign staff. You’ve got to see this to believe this:

http://mediamattersaction.org/freeride/lobbyists/

“If all goes as expected, Barack Obama will accept the nomination of the Democratic party at their convention on August 28…45 years to the day after Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.”

Mark Evanier, May 7th on his NewsFromME.com site

Recycled from the Huffington Post:

A leader of the Democratic Party under Bill Clinton switched his allegiance to Barack Obama on Thursday and urged fellow Democrats to end the bruising nomination fight.

“This has got to come to an end,” former Democratic National Committee Chairman Joe Andrew told reporters in his hometown of Indianapolis just days before Tuesday’s crucial state primary. He said he planned to call all the other superdelegates he knows and encourage them to back Obama.

Bill Clinton appointed Andrew chairman of the DNC in 1999, and he led the party through the disputed 2000 presidential race before stepping down in 2001. Andrew endorsed Hillary Rodham Clinton last year on the day she declared her candidacy for the White House.

In a lengthy letter explaining his decision, Andrew said he is switching his support because “a vote for Hillary Clinton is a vote to continue this process, and a vote to continue this process is a vote that assists (Republican) John McCain.”

“The ship is taking on water right now,” Andrew said at the news conference. “We need to patch those holes, heal the rift and go forward to beat John McCain.”

Asked for a response to Andrew’s decision, Clinton spokesman Phil Singer said, “We support that Democratic process and think that every American should be able to weigh in and support the candidate of his or her own choosing.”

Andrew said the Obama campaign never asked him to switch his support, but he decided to do so after watching Obama’s handling of two issues in recent days. He said Obama took the principled stand in opposing a summer gas tax holiday that both Clinton and McCain supported, even though it would have been easier politically to back it. And he said he was impressed with Obama’s handling of the controversy surrounding his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

Wright’s outspoken criticisms of the United States have threatened Obama’s candidacy. Obama initially refused to denounce his former pastor, but he did so this week after Wright suggested that Obama secretly agrees with him.

“He has shown such mettle under fire,” Andrew said in the interview. “The Jeremiah Wright controversy just reconfirmed for me, just as the gas tax controversy confirmed for me, that he is the right candidate for our party.”

Read the rest of this article.

Charitybuzz.com is hosting an online auction benefiting the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial (online until May 7th) in which celebrities, political figures, designers, and various corporations have generously donated items and experiences to be auctioned off. Here’s one article in particular that folks may find interesting..
Autographed Copy of Senator Barack Obama’s Historic ‘A More Perfect Union’ Speech on Race in Philadelphia

https://auction01.charitybuzz.com/secure/viewItemDetail.do?auction_item_id=13585

Donations from the CharityBuzz.com Online Auction will help the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial (www.rfkmemorial.org) to continue providing innovative support to courageous human rights defenders around the world. RFK supports their partners with projects combining technology, legal support, advocacy to governmental and international bodies, and media outreach to help overcome human rights abuses in places like New Orleans, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Brazil and Chad among other places.

Here’s another fine Obama email / video that fell into my email box today.

We are an irish band called Hardy Drew and the Nancy Boys

We have released “theres no one as irish as barrack o’bama”

O’leary, o’reilly, o’hare and o’hara
There’s no one as irish as barrack o’bama

You don’t believe me
I hear you say
But barracks as irish
As was jfk
His granddaddys daddy
Came from Moneygall
A small irish village
Well known to you all

Toor a loo, toor a loo, toor a loo, toor a lama
There’s no one as irish
As Barack O’Bama

He’s as irish as bacon
And cabbage and stew
He’s Hawaiian he’s Kenyan
American too
If he succeeds
And he has a chance
I’m sure our barrack
Will do riverdance

Toor a loo, toor a loo, toor a loo, toor a lama
There’s no one as irish
As Barack O’Bama

We’re from old Ireland

Regards
Ger Corrigan

More mistruths documented by Media Matters
http://mediamatters.org/items/200803200009
On Glenn Beck, Blackwell’s false claim: Obama “basically said that, while he was in Reverend Wright’s church, he embraces Louis Farrakhan”

On Glenn Beck, Ken Blackwell stated of Sen. Barack Obama: “Here is a guy who basically said that, while he was in Reverend [Jeremiah] Wright’s church, he embraces [Nation of Islam founder] Louis Farrakhan.” In fact, Obama has called himself “a consistent denunciator of Louis Farrakhan,” which neither Beck nor Blackwell noted.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200803200007
David Gregory allowed Republican strategist to claim: “Barack Obama’s talked about paratroopers in Islamabad

MSNBC’s David Gregory did not challenge Republican strategist Mike Murphy’s false claim that “Barack Obama’s talked about paratroopers in Islamabad, for heaven’s sake.” In fact, Obama has stated that “[i]f we have actionable intelligence about high-level Al Qaeda targets in Pakistan’s border region, we must act if Pakistan will not or cannot.” A Media Matters review found no examples of Obama calling for dropping “paratroopers in Islamabad” or anywhere else in Pakistan.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200803200005
Today aired YouTube video “hit[]” on Obama’s “patriotism,” “pastor, and his faith”

In a report on the controversy surrounding Sen. Barack Obama’s former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, NBC’s Lee Cowan uncritically aired clips from a YouTube video that Cowan said “hits not just on Obama’s pastor and his faith … but on the senator’s patriotism, too.” Cowan did not mention who was behind the video or comment on any of the video’s content. However, the Politico reported that the video was created in part by Lee Habeeb, “a former producer of the Laura Ingraham Show” and currently “director of strategic content at Salem Radio Network, the conservative talk radio powerhouse.” Cowan’s uncritical airing of the video echoes similar reporting on Fox News, which has aired several YouTube videos smearing Democrats.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200803200004
Media outlets falsely claim Obama contradicted himself regarding Wright statements

Several media figures have falsely claimed that Sen. Barack Obama contradicted previous statements when he said during a March 18 speech on race: “Did I ever hear him [Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama's former pastor] make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in the church? Yes.” In fact, Obama previously asserted he had not been present for particular statements Wright made that were repeated by various media outlets and that spurred the recent controversy. He did not claim to have never heard Wright make “remarks that could be considered controversial.”

http://mediamatters.org/items/200803200011
Some MSNBC journalists identify a media double standard in coverage of McCain gaffe; others demonstrate it

After Chuck Todd acknowledged a media double standard in coverage of Sen. John McCain’s Al Qaeda-Iran gaffe, CNBC’s John Harwood asserted on Morning Joe: “I think that at the end of the day, John McCain has got sufficient credibility on that issue that people are not going to look at that and say, ‘Oh, John McCain is confused’ or ‘John McCain’s too old’ or ‘John McCain doesn’t get it.’ … But he obviously can’t do that too many times or he’s got a problem.” Harwood was not alone in misrepresenting or excusing McCain’s false claim on MSNBC; several MSNBC reporters and anchors have ignored or excused McCain’s false claim.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200803200006
ABC’s Ross falsely claimed that McCain has already released his tax returns

Noting the National Archives’ release of Sen. Hillary Clinton’s daily schedule during her time as first lady, ABC’s Brian Ross stated, “Senator Clinton, unlike Senators [Barack] Obama and [John] McCain, has still not released any of her tax returns.” In fact, McCain reportedly has not released any of his tax returns.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200803190013
Fox News Radio’s Sullivan predicted African-American “riots in the streets” if Obama were to lose to McCain or Clinton

Discussing Sen. Barack Obama’s speech on race in America, Fox News Radio’s Tom Sullivan asked, “What if Barack Obama is not — does not win the Democratic nomination, or he does win it, and loses in the presidential race against John McCain? … [W]ill there be riots in the streets? I think the answer to that is yes and yes.”

http://mediamatters.org/items/200803190010
Politico’s Harris and VandeHei misrepresented Harris’ own interview with Obama

The Politico’s Jim VandeHei and John F. Harris claimed in an article that “[w]hen pressed on a voting record that the National Journal called the most liberal in the Senate, [Sen. Barack] Obama dismissed ideological labels as ‘old politics.’ ” However, when Harris asked Obama about the National Journal’s vote ratings in a previous interview, Obama initially responded by criticizing the Journal’s methodology; Obama referred to “old politics” moments later in response to Harris’ question about whether he is “comfortable with the liberal label.”

http://mediamatters.org/items/200803190009
Less than a week after suggesting his own parents “are crazy,” Scarborough criticized Obama for purportedly “throw[ing] his grandmother under the bus”

Responding to Barack Obama’s comment, made in his March 18 speech addressing controversial statements by Rev. Jeremiah Wright, that his white grandmother had “uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes,” Joe Scarborough said: “I really wonder why anybody, why any man, would throw his grandmother under the bus during a political speech regardless of the point he was trying to make.” But last week, Scarborough said that “we all have people that we love dearly who are crazy,” adding, “Do not hold me accountable for things that my father has said in the past … or for e-mails … that my mother sends me. … And again, Mom and Dad, I love you. I’m just making a bigger point.”