“OBAMA SUPPORTERS” DAILY NEWS Friday April 04-2008

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

WELCOME TO “OBAMA SUPPORTERS” DAILY NEWS

Friday April 04-2008


Rachel Faller, 21, of Baltimore tears up during a speech by Michelle Obama at
Carnegie Mellon University. Obama was talking about education and opportunity
for economically disadvantaged kids, a subject that is dear to Faller.
Joe Appel/Tribune-Review

Esteemed DUer's, please consider taking a moment (or more) to graciously participate
by posting news and announcements about the Obama campaign on this thread. You can:

1. Post stories and announcements you find on the web. :think:

2. Re-post stories and announcements you find on DU,
providing a link to the original thread :applause:

3. Please "Recommend" for the Greatest Page :thumbsup:

4. Clinton supporters or “anti Obama posters please start your own
“Clinton Daily News Thread”.

Get your DU-o-matic codificator (to format your posts) here
Read the Daily News Archives here

[grantcart]

1. Delegate Changes mini thread

[grantcart]

2. DC City Council members Yvette Alexander Add on for Obama

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

3. Hillary a Paul Revere? She fiddled while Rome burned, Obama intro'd a bill

Look, My Children, and You Will See; The Downfall of Hillary

Thursday Scott Casazza April 3, 2008

Senator Hillary Clinton has decided to give herself the nickname "Paulette Revere…
…."I have continued to sound the alarm," she said. "Sometimes I feel like Paulette Revere: The recession is coming, the recession is coming. I hope someone will do something besides wring their hands."

Someone like a United States Senator?

Maybe that would have been a good time to introduce some sort of legislation to curb this impending crisis. Perhaps Sen. Clinton was too busy celebrating her re-election to the Senate, a campaign whose highest donor was Citigroup Inc. ($228,110).

If only some legislator had stepped in and presented a bill that could have stemmed the tide of the coming financial woes. ….Wait.. what's that? It's Senate Bill 1222(110th Congress): The Stop Fraud Act. Introduced on April 25, 2007, and also called the Stopping Mortgaage Transactions which Operate to Promote Fraud, Risk, Abuse, and Undervelopment Act.
Sponsored by...?

Senator Barack Obama. As for speaking out on the issue, here's a link to Sen. Obama's introduction of S. 1222. If you don't feel like reading the entire transcript, here's an excerpt;

....more at the link

[FrenchieCat]

12. The correct link to that article above.

http://scottcasazza.blogspot.com/2008/04/look-my-children-and-you-will-see.html

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

4. Clinton advisor/lobbyist working to get a new free trade pact passed

Mark, Mark, Mark ...

Josh Marshall TPM 04.03.08

Just out from the Wall Street Journal ...

Hillary Clinton's chief campaign strategist met with Colombia's ambassador to the U.S. on Monday
to discuss a bilateral free-trade agreement, a pact the presidential candidate opposes.

Attendance by the adviser, Mark Penn, was confirmed by two Colombian officials.
He wasn't there in his campaign role, but in his separate job as chief executive of Burson-Marsteller Worldwide,
an international communications and lobbying firm.

The firm has a contract with the South American nation to help promote congressional approval of the trade deal,
among other things, according to filings with the Justice Department.

There are so many reasons why candidates should be paying Mark Penn to stay as far away from their campaigns
as possible. But this is yet another. Having your key campaign advisor also be an international man of
mystery-cum-PR-lobbyist-cheeseball is fairly problematic.
But for Hillary's sake, when her political future is on the line in a state like Pennsylvania, wracked by the loss
of industrial jobs for decades, you think he could have waited a few more weeks before prancing off to help
get a new free trade pact passed?

[FrenchieCat]

13. This story on Mark Penn in Columbia should get some airplay tomorrow.....

if life is fair.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

5. How to get healthcare reform DO IT FIRST, DON'T WRITE A BILL, AND LET SOMEONE ELSE TAKE THE CREDIT

How to get healthcare reform

DO IT FIRST, DON'T WRITE A BILL, AND LET SOMEONE ELSE TAKE THE CREDIT.

By Ezra Klein Slate Thursday, April 3, 2008

On health care, the vital question for the next president isn't merely what to do but how to do it. Reform requires much more than a willing executive, as anyone who worked in the Clinton White House between the years of 1992 and 1994 can tell you. The problem is not just policy—Washington is stuffed with wonks and idea entrepreneurs eager to explain how to fix the health care system—it's politics. Without 60 votes in the Senate, you don't have a policy. You have a position. And nobody is going to get good, affordable medical care from a position paper. Sadly, there's a long history of executives coming in with a clear position paper explaining what they want to do to fix health care but no political strategy for how to achieve it. The next president need not repeat that mistake. He or she needs, first, a clear political approach—based, in part, around a solid understanding of the mistakes made by the Clintons in 1994—that's backed up by a solid set of policy principles.

• Do it first. One of the problems with the Clinton health care process was that it took so long to get a bill to Congress. By the time Clinton actually sent solid legislation to Capitol Hill, in November of 1993, he'd already spent most of his initial political capital on the North American Free Trade Agreement, gays in the military, and the Deficit Reduction Act and had been battered by the beginning of Whitewater; the crisis in Haiti; and the massacre of American soldiers in Mogadishu, Somalia.

At the risk of offending other contributors to this series, I'd advise the next president not to leave Congress to dither while you take your hits and pursue other priorities. Having run, in part, on the issue of improving health care, he or she will have something of a mandate upon entering office. Do not let that dissipate. On Day One, the next president must ask Congress to begin an open process that will put a bill on his or her desk by Day 100, include public hearings in the process, and, on the 100th day, give a prime-time presidential speech to a joint session of Congress. The president should ask for meetings with both the majority and the minority leader on this issue every 25 days. And if there's no bill by the 100th day, it's time to start using the bully pulpit to press those who would delay.

.. • Let someone else take the credit. In part, the 1994 effort was foiled by simple Republican intransigence. Bill Kristol, then a Republican strategist, wrote a famed memo titled "Defeating President Clinton's Health Care Proposal," in which he warned, "Any Republican urge to negotiate a 'least bad' compromise with the Democrats, and thereby gain momentary public credit for helping the president 'do something' about health care, should be resisted." Similarly, Bill McInturff, a Republican pollster, advised that the party's midterm hopes relied on "not having health care pass."

…more at the link

[ClayZ]

6. I would like to hear that speech by Michelle Obama.

I have only heard one of her speeches! It was BRILLIANT!

I am going to go see if I can find it!

Thanks! K and R

[ClayZ]

15. I found this great article about her speech!

http://www.dailymirror.lk/DM_BLOG/Sections/frmNewsDetailView.aspx?ARTID=10932


The power of Michelle Obama




<snip>

She's closing her speech with a heart-warmer of an anecdote she cites often. It's the story of a little girl she met in South Carolina who told her Obama's run for the presidency meant she could imagine anything for herself.
The girl, she says, began to cry.
There's a collective "ahhhwww" from the audience.
"You know why I know what that little girl is feeling?" Michelle Obama says. "Because she was me. See, because I am NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HERE."
She finishes and the crowd leaps to its feet applauding. Some are crying.
"I could barely keep it together," says Linda Newton, a 55-year-old working mother of two, as she blinks back tears. "Because it's a fundamentally different message. It's a message that resonates deep at your core, that you can identify with as a woman, as a mother, as someone who cares about people, someone who cares and believes in community.

"I'm gonna go write a check."

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

7. McClatchy: Another Clinton fundraiser has a suspect past

Another Clinton fundraiser has a suspect past

By Greg Gordon and Will Connors | McClatchy Newspapers Thursday, April 3, 08

HOUSTON — A Texas oilman who's accused of defrauding the Nigerian government by illegally pumping and exporting 10 million barrels of oil is a major fundraiser for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.

Kase Lawal of Houston is at least the fourth person accused or convicted of criminal wrongdoing to help finance Clinton's political ambitions since 2000 and the second in her quest for the White House. The list also includes Chinese and Pakistani fugitives and a former Miami lawyer who was convicted of defrauding Cuba.

There's no indication that Clinton's campaign was aware of Lawal's legal problems when it accepted his help in raising more than $100,000, but a McClatchy investigation in the U.S. and Nigeria suggests that her campaign did little to scrutinize the background of one of its top fundraisers.

…However, a simple Google search by McClatchy produced reports of serious allegations about some of Lawal's business dealings in Nigeria and South Africa.

More at the link

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

8. Obama's church asks for peace amid threats, media onslaught

Obama's church asks for peace amid threats, media onslaught

CHRISTOPHER WILLS Associated Press Writer Thursday Apr 03, 2008

The leaders of Barack Obama's church asked reporters for a little respect Thursday, saying threats and a media onslaught are disrupting worship at the South Side church.

Trinity United Church of Christ has stepped up security in response to threatening calls, letters and e-mails, officials said.

They also asked reporters to avoid disrupting services and bothering members of the congregation as they come and go to church.
The church's Cleveland-based parent denomination, the largely white United Church of Christ, announced that in response to the furor its 5,700 congregations around the country will conduct a "sacred conversation" on racial issues beginning May 18.

More at the link

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

9. Patriotism? Wright turned down deferment, Cheney took 5, Bush/Clinton took 1 each

He turned down a student deferment to serve, and Cheney, Bush, Clinton??????????

Factor military duty into criticism

By Lawrence Korb April 3, 2008 Chicago Tribune

In 1961, a young African-American man, after hearing President John F. Kennedy's challenge to, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country," gave up his student deferment, left college in Virginia and voluntarily joined the Marines.In 1963, this man, having completed his two years of service in the Marines, volunteered again to become a Navy corpsman. (They provide medical assistance to the Marines as well as to Navy personnel.)

The man did so well in corpsman school that he was the valedictorian and became a cardiopulmonary technician. Not surprisingly, he was assigned to the Navy's premier medical facility, Bethesda Naval Hospital, as a member of the commander in chief's medical team, and helped care for President Lyndon B. Johnson after his 1966 surgery. For his service on the team, which he left in 1967, the White House awarded him three letters of commendation.

What is even more remarkable is that this man entered the Marines and Navy not many years after the two branches began to become integrated.

While this young man was serving six years on active duty, Vice President Dick Cheney, who was born the same year as the Marine/sailor, received five deferments, four for being an undergraduate and graduate student and one for being a prospective father. Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, both five years younger than the African-American youth, used their student deferments to stay in college until 1968. Both then avoided going on active duty through family connections.

Who is the real patriot? The young man who interrupted his studies to serve his country for six years or our three political leaders who beat the system? Are the patriots the people who actually sacrifice something or those who merely talk about their love of the country?

… more at the link

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

10. Interloper on Clinton Conference Calls Wants HRC to "Talk Sexy"

Too funny. I guess anyone can get on these calls.....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=5373586&mesg_id=5373586

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

11. Obama a ray of hope in dark political times

Obama a ray of hope in dark political times

Pepperdine University 4-3-08 STAFF EDITORIAL

The 2008 presidential election has proved itself to be a race that will not be easily won. With the number of unclaimed delegates dwindling, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are dragging out the Democratic race and voters can expect the fate of the ticket to be in the hands of the superdelegates. The largest amount of delegates left in a single state is Pennsylvania, which holds its primary in two weeks, and the 150 delegates there may make or break the last couple weeks of elections.

Although the contest has not been settled between Clinton and Obama, the Graphic editors have chosen to endorse Obama’s candidacy in this year’s presidential race. Along with college students all over the nation, we admire his ability to reach out to our generation and feel that his platform and image is one that will represent our country well.

Being only 46, we are automatically attracted to his youthful charisma. His energetic personality, young appeal and new ideas are strong characteristics and have taken him so far in the elections already. Obama is fresh and a new face for politics, and his liberal platform is one that is very relatable.

It is not only Obama’s personality that has sparked interest, but his stances on the issues as well. He has developed a plan to simplify the application for financial aid for college students. His plan allows families to simply apply by checking a box on their tax forms, rather than filling out the current federal financial aid application. He also plans to make college more affordable for all Americans by creating a new American Opportunity Tax Credit, which, according to his Web site, will ensure that the first $4,000 of a college education is free for most Americans. It will also lower the price of community college for most students, and could potentially make it completely free. While Clinton has developed a similar plan to Obama’s, McCain’s take on education is very different. He focuses on finding better teachers and rewarding them more, but does not offer incentives for students going to college.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

14. Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds at Indiana University April 6 in support of Obama

Change Rocks: Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds to Perform Special Show in Support of Barack Obama

Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds at
Indiana University

Indiana University Union Board (which does not endorse a political candidate)
and Students for Obama present:

Change Rocks

A very special evening with Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds

Indiana University Assembly Hall
1001 East 17th Street

Sunday, April 6th, 2008
Doors open: 5:30 p.m.
Show starts: 7:00 p.m.

The event is free and open to all Indiana Residents. Ticket and Indiana driver's license or student ID required. Admission is first-come, first-served.

Tickets are limited to 1 per person and can be picked up at the following locations:

For ticket locations, visit this link

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

16. Clintons -- a last stand that lacks class

"If Richardson is Judas, which Clinton is Jesus?"

Clintons -- a last stand that lacks class

By JOEL CONNELLY Seattle P-I COLUMNIST April 3, 2008

AS HER ham-handed handlers insult entire states, and her self-absorbed husband indulges in red-faced, finger-wagging outbursts, Sen. Hillary Clinton soldiers on.

It is a joyless campaign, with stump speeches that carry tales of woe and get delivered in a booming voice that could open a wall safe.

A full three months after the Iowa caucuses, nearly two months after Washington's caucuses, the Clintons seem bent on turning the Democrats' fertile ground into scorched earth.

....Clinton backer James Carville, noting that Richardson made up his mind during Holy Week, opined: "Mr. Richardson's endorsement came right around the anniversary of the day when Judas sold out for 30 pieces of silver, so I think the timing is appropriate, if ironic."

more at the link

You can digg the article here -- this is a column people should read.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

17. ABC News: Clintons have made more than $50 million since leaving White House

How well will this revelation, plus the Tuzla sniper fire lies, plus the NAFTA lies
play with the people in PA who lost their jobs, some lost their houses, some lost someone to the war?

The Clinton Tax Returns: What Will They Reveal?

An ABC News Review Has Found the Clintons Have Made More Than $50 Million Since Leaving the White HouseBy BRIAN ROSS and AVNI PATEL
April 3, 2008

Hillary Clinton has been pulling out all the stops to win the Democratic nomination for president -- but one: she still has not released her family's tax returns.

The campaign says they will release the documents sometime before April 15. Without them, many questions remain about how the Clintons made tens of millions of dollars -- and whether they used arcane tax loopholes available to the super-rich, an expert says. A Clinton campaign spokesman says the couple has paid all U.S. taxes at ordinary income tax rates.

An independent review by ABC News has found that since leaving the White House seven years ago, the senator and her former president husband have made well over $50 million, much of it from paid speeches made by Bill Clinton.

A review of Sen. Clinton's annual ethics filings found that her husband has earned $47 million in fees from more than 280 speeches he has made around the world.

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4581608&page=1

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

18. Michigan Dems: No Re-Vote (its final)

Michigan Dems: No Re-VoteEric Kleefeld - April 4, 2008

It's really, finally, definitely official now. The Michigan re-vote is dead, with the state Democratic Party releasing the following statement:

The Michigan Democratic Party has carefully reviewed several proposals for a Party-run primary or caucus as a means of resolving the dispute over the seating of the Michigan delegation to the 2008 Democratic National Convention. We have concluded that it is not practical to conduct such a primary or caucus. We will continue to work with the Working Group, the DNC and the candidates to resolve this matter in a manner which is respectful of the views of Democrats in Michigan, and which is fair to those who voted in the January 15th Democratic primary.
Next stop: The credentials committee.

Late Update: Howard Dean and Sen. Carl Levin, plus some other major Michigan Dem names, have released this statement:

"We are united in our commitment to doing everything we can to ensure that a Michigan delegation is seated in Denver this summer. We also know that any solution needs to be acceptable to both Democratic presidential campaigns. While there may be differences of opinion in how we get there, we will continue to work together to ensure that a Michigan delegation is seated and that the logistics are in place for a Michigan delegation in Denver. We have every expectation that we will succeed in that endeavor, and then go on to win in November."

Late Late Update: Jason Horowitz of The New York Observer reports that Dean got an earful from a roomful of Hillary donors upset that he hasn't done more to resolve the Florida and Michigan standoffs.

#

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

19. readers, please share your Obama news here, its easy, just

just post a subject and a link if thats all you want to do.

Or if you see a great post in GDP that Obama supporters would appreciate
or should recommend, please post that subject and a link.

And thanks!

:yourock:

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

20. McCain concedes he was wrong to oppose MLK holiday

McCain concedes he was wrong to oppose MLK holiday

The Swamp Fri Apr 4

McCain acknowledged that he was wrong to oppose creating a federal holiday in honor of the slain civil rights leader.

“We can be slow as well to give greatness its due, a mistake I made myself long ago when I voted against a federal holiday in memory of Dr. King,” McCain said. “I was wrong and eventually realized that, in time to give full support for a state holiday in Arizona. We can all be a little late sometimes in doing the right thing, and Dr. King understood this about his fellow Americans. But he knew as well that in the long term, confidence in the reasonability and good heart of America is always well placed.”

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

21. Michelle Obama to Visit North Carolina Tuesday April

Michelle Obama to Visit North Carolina Tuesday April 8

Will Hold Events in Winston-Salem and Raleigh to focus on economic challenges facing middle class North Carolina families

Raleigh, NC - Next week Michelle Obama will visit the state to discuss Senator Obama's commitment to bringing the kind of change America needs, reach out to undecided voters, and organize support for the May 6 primary.

Mrs. Obama will discuss the struggles facing hardworking North Carolina families in an uncertain economy, with a rising cost of living that makes it harder and harder to balance the demands of work and family life.

Additional details about the trip will be announced soon.
###


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 4, 2008

Katherine Lyons,
[phone]
Obama for America,
233 N. Michigan Suite 1100,
Chicago, IL 60601.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

22. ****Clintons report $109.2M for 7 years****AP Newswire

Clintons report $109.2M for 7 years

By JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and former President Clinton reported $20.4 million in income for 2007 and more than $109 million since 2000 as they gave the public the most detailed look at their finances in eight years

...According to a summary of the seven years provided by the campaign, the former president's speech income since he left the White House totals $51.85 million and his income from his two books — "My Life " and "Giving" — totals $29.6 million.

Hillary Clinton had $10.5 million in book income over the period from her book "Living History." She donated earnings from her other book, "It Takes a Village," to charity.

Clinton's tax returns show that of the remaining presidential candidates, she is the one most able to access large amounts of personal money. She lent her campaign $5 million in late February and could contribute more if she finds herself falling far behind Obama's proficient fundraising.

...In 2006, Obama reported income of nearly $1 million, with nearly half of it coming from the publication of his second book, "The Audacity of Hope." Last week, the campaign disclosed that Obama and his wife, Michelle, gave $240,000 to charity last year.

more at the link