Obama Staying Above the Fray With Message on Service

[ClarkUSA]

DES MOINES -- Sen. Barack Obama has seemed to float above the fray over the last few days -- barely acknowledging attacks from Sen.
Hillary Rodham Clinton on the campaign trail and leaving it to his campaign aides to object to (and raise money off of) what they describe
as a wave of negativity from the national front-runner.

Obama has taken subtle digs at Clinton. On Monday, he wryly dismissed her attempt to use a comment he made in kindergarten against
him. And on Tuesday night, at a college rally in Grinnell, he pointed to a student -- referred to now as the "plant" -- who had previously
been told to ask a question at an earlier Clinton rally. (Obama did not call on her).

Today, Obama is staying on his mellow message with a speech about "national service." He is continuing to urge out-of-state college
students to cast their ballots on campus in Iowa -- an entirely legal process, but one that his rivals have complained about -- and
calling for more volunteerism. He has left the dueling with Clinton -- in particular, over Iran -- to former Sen. John Edwards, who
drew sharp distinctions with the New York senator during their NPR debate here on Tuesday.

Obama addressed students at Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa, and laid out a vision of a more service-oriented future that
includes expanding the AmeriCorps program, doubling the Peace Corps, establishing an "America's Voice" initiative to recruit and
train Americans to speak foreign languages, and enlisting more people over age 55 into community service effort.

"Through service, I found a community that embraced me; a church to belong to; citizenship that was meaningful; the direction I'd
been seeking," Obama planned to say, according to an excerpt released by the campaign before his speech. "Through service, I found
that my own improbable story fit into a larger American story."

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2007/12/05/obama_staying_above_the_fray_w.html

It's nice to see Obama not indulging in the politics of personal destruction: When you wrestle with a pig, you both get dirty... but only
the pig thinks it's "fun".

:bluebox:

For those who are interested in specifics, Barack Obama's plan to help all Americans serve their country will:

- Expand AmeriCorps from its current 75,000 slots to 250,000 slots, enabling the program to establish five new Corps that address
some of America's most pressing challenges: Classroom Corps, Health Corps, Clean Energy Corps, Veterans Corps, and Homeland
Security Corps.

- Engage retiring Americans in service on a large scale by expanding and improving Senior Corps, VISTA and other programs that
connect individuals over the age of 55 to volunteer opportunities.

- Double the size of the Peace Corps from 7,800 volunteers to 16,000 by its 50th anniversary in 2011 and work to partner volunteers
with people from other nations.

- Establish an America's Voice Initiative to recruit and train Americans that are fluent speakers of local languages to bolster our public
diplomacy efforts abroad

-Create a national online network, modeled on Craigslist, to connect volunteers to service and donation opportunities

- Establish a goal of having middle and high-schoolers contribute at least 50 hours a year to community service, and reach that goal
through national guidelines for service-learning and additional resources for schools to develop successful programs.

- Connect disadvantaged youth to service opportunities and a pathway to success through the creation of Green Job Corps and the
expansion of YouthBuild from 8,000 slots today to 50,000 slots over the next eight years.

- Create a new American Opportunity Tax Credit to ensure that the first $4,000 of a college education is completely free for Americans
willing to complete 100 hours of public service a year.

- Promote College Serve-Study by immediately increasing the percentage of Federal Work-Study Program funding that goes to community
service jobs from 7 percent to 25 percent, and helping colleges and universities reach a goal of 50 percent of serve-study over time.

- Expand the capacity of the nonprofit sector by establishing a Social Investment Fund Network to provide R&D capital to encourage
innovation, find out what works, and expand successful programs to scale across the country.

- Create a Social Entrepreneurship Agency to enable nonprofits to build capacity through improved collaborations with government.

Click here for full details of the plan: http://my.barackobama.com/page/-/HQpress/12.5.07_Fact%20Sheet%20National%20Service%20FINAL.pdf

:bluebox:

Former US Senator Harris Wofford (D-PA), helped to launch the Peace Corps under the Kennedy Administration and played a key role
in crafting legislation that led to AmeriCorps. He believes "Barack Obama has picked up the torch" and wrote the following:

From the perspective of four-score-and-one years, I feel lucky beyond measure to have this new leader who can touch our souls --
and move our minds and bodies into action.

I haven’t felt like this since the days of high hopes with John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King. Barack Obama has picked
up the torch that they lit... Barack says that the amazing response of students in Iowa and around the country helps to fire him up. But if
you follow his remarkable trajectory in life you know that he does not need to be stirred to action. He is ready for action to change the
course of our country and to change the world.

He needs you to help him see it through not just this election but also in the new administration. He is ready. Are you?

The country needs you not only to answer his call to action but to be creative, in your own right to discover the best ways to serve and to
build a better country and a better world.

And we need Barack Obama -- to become the next President of the United States.

http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post_group/ObamaHQ/CRQB

In the words of Ted Sorensen, John F. Kennedy's speechwriter and advisor:

Senator Obama’s stirring call to public service is the strongest since John F. Kennedy’s 1960 request that all Americans, especially young
Americans, ask what they can do for their country.

What more sterling tributes can Sen. Obama's Plan For Universal Voluntary Citizen Service receive? :-)

[jody]

1. Obama's mellow message lacks specificity but of course specificity comes with wisdom and experience.

[ClarkUSA]

2. That explains why Hillary can't specify how she'll enforce the mandate in her healthcare plan

:eyes:

[jody]

3. Makes sense to me. n/t

[ClarkUSA]

4. Psst... I edited the OP to provide specificity

Thanks for suggestion. ;)

[jody]

5. Have a great day.

:pals:

[wyldwolf]

6. ah, yes. Obama goes back to the DLC well again. Good.

:)

[BeyondGeography]

7. The MSM is starting to notice who's outplaying who here

as long as they don't start calling him flawless, he should be OK. ;)

[ClarkUSA]

8. No doubt.

:toast: