“I need you to keep on fighting. I need you to keep on believing,” the President said.

[bigtree]

REUTERS/Larry Downing

The president was enveloped with cheers as he stepped onto the stage in Midway Plaisance Park for a rally that seemed tailored to recapture the magic of his victory speech nearly two years ago in Grant Park. Saturday's crowd of an estimated 35,000 people, the largest Obama has had as he's hit the campaign trail over the past couple of weeks, stretched all the way west from the stage.

He paused several times along the runway to the podium to take in the moment, stopping to point and wave or give a thumbs-up. A jib camera scanned the crowd, where people waved signs featuring the Obama's 2008 campaign logo.

"I can't think of anything better than being with a hometown crowd that is fired up," Obama said.

"Now, Chicago, in three days you have the chance to set the direction of this state and this country for years to come," he said.

read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1010/44433.html





Obama told those gathered in Hyde Park that "there is no doubt that this is a tough election." But ceding control to Republicans would be returning to failed economic policies of the past, he added.

The president urged voters "just like you did in 2008" to defy conventional wisdom, "the kind that says you can't overcome cynicism in politics, you can't overcome the special interests, you can't overcome the big money, you can't overcome the negativity, you can't overcome the big challenges anymore."

"In three days, you've got the chance to once again say what?" he asked as the crowd responded with the signature phrase of his 2008 presidential campaign: "Yes we can."

read more: http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-10-30/news/ct-met-obama-rally-1031-20101030_1_obama-s-chicago-president-barack-obama-rallies




REUTERS/Larry Downing

"We need you to work to get everybody out to vote," Obama told the cheering throngs -- estimated by organizers as 35,000 people -- at the University of Chicago's Midway Plaisance. "If everyone who came out to vote in 2008 shows up in 2010, we will win this election."

Obama said Republicans were counting on voters' "amnesia" to win.

"Chicago, it's up to you to let them know that we have not forgotten," he said. "It's up to you to let them know that this election is a choice between the policies that got us into this mess and the policies that are starting to lead us out of this mess."

read more: http://www.suntimes.com/news/elections/2850490,barack-obama-rally-midway-chicago-103010.article





"You know, a lot of you got involved in 2008 because you believed we were the defining moment in our history," Obama said.

"A lot of you believed this was a time when the decisions we made about the challenges we face wouldn't just affect us, they'd affect our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren," the president said.

"That's why you knocked on those doors, made phone calls, cast votes for the very first time, because you understood what was at stake."

"Two years later, I know that some of the excitement that we had in Grant Park, that fades away."

read more: http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/breakingnews/view/20101031-300711/Obama-on-home-turf-asks-US-voters-for-support





“I need you to keep on fighting. I need you to keep on believing,” Obama said to thousands of people who crowded onto the Midway Plaisance at the University of Chicago.

"Maybe some of you stopped believing," Obama said. "I want everybody here to understand, don't let anyone tell you that this fight hasn't been worth it."

“If you’re willing to step up, if you’re willing to try… we will restore our economy. We will rebuild the middle class and we will reclaim the American dream for another generation and generations to come.”

"Because if you do, if you're willing to step up, if you're willing to try, we won't just win this election, Pat Quinn won't just win this election, Alexi Giannoulias won't just win this election. But we will restore our economy. We will rebuild the middle class, and we will reclaim the American Dream for another generation for another generation and generations to come.

read more: http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/clout_st/2010/10/obama-to-rally-democrats-in-hyde-park.html

[jaxx]

1. K&R

The man and the message.......listen!

[msongs]

2. us - fight, him = bipartisan lol nt

[lonestarnot]

3. :)

[Le Taz Hot]

4. You first, Mr. President.

You first.

[demwing]

29. [phone] /nt

[pnorman]

5. I'm optimistic that we'll hold bot Houses.

Even if by a slim majority, that'll be good enough considering that Corporate America has expended such resources to repudiate Obama.

GOTV! GOTV! GOTV! GOTV! GOTV!

[The Uncola]

6. We fight, you capitulate.

Grow a spine then come back and ask again.

[bigtree]

7. you know

It's in our interest to fight for a Democratic Congress as much as it's his concern.

[sufrommich]

8. +1 nt

[The Uncola]

9. I know...

.. I've done that, but he and his have yet to seriously act in my best interest.

[bigtree]

10. I'm sympathetic

. . . to that point of view.

[treestar]

22. Why are you so dependent on what he does?

He does have a spine, quit just blaming him for your weakness and timidity. He is a politician. Without support, he has to compromise with those who DO have support.

Your shallowness and lack of seriousness weakens his position.

Why do you need the President to inspire you so much? Have you no interest for yourself or your country? You must be taken care of by the President? That's not how our Republic is set up.

If you're that weak, just stay out of it and let those who want to fight get behind the President.

The bravest general in the world cannot go to a battle alone, with no backing, or weak backing from those who want to stay out of the battle and want the general to kill all the opposing soldiers personally himself.

[The Uncola]

25. What in the world are you talking about?

You make an awful lot of assumptions about someone you've never even spoken with.

I don't "need" the President to "inspire me" or any of the rest of your strawman bullshit. I need him to grow a pair of balls and do the job we elected him to do, not cowtow the Regressives every time they crank up the noise machine. I'm not going to waste my time rehashing how badly he and weak-kneed Dems in Congress WASTED a huge majority in BOTH Houses. You know it. I know it. The entire world knows it. Pretend it didn't happen all you please, but that doesn't make it so. Excuses suck.

[Vickers]

26. You are so brave!!!11!!!!!!1!!!

:eyes:

[The Uncola]

30. I have no idea..

.. what you are trying to say, but perhaps if you were to use a couple of dozen more !!!!s it would become clearer.



:wtf:

[Vickers]

32. Maybe if you use a few more "What the fuck?" smilies YOU would make more sense.

:rofl:

[The Uncola]

33. I see.

So basically you were making an attempt at being snarky. Thanks for clearing that up, I thought you might have something valuable to add to the conversation. Good to know I didn't miss a thing. Have a nice day.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

11. Hey, Dude! Caving isn't fighting.

[bigtree]

12. He's talking about the fight for the election

More Democratic votes, less need to compromise.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

13. Unfortunately, some of those Dems are Blue Dogs who will vote against his eifforts.

[bigtree]

15. we don't have the luxury of waiting for a perfect party

That's a strategy which is affected by so many variables (from election to election) that it pales in comparison to pressing forward with what we have and continuing with our advocacy. I know some folks believe its more productive to rip and tear at the fabric of the party voters have crafted at the polls in anticipation of a fresh start next election, but there really isn't enough support forthcoming for any one of the ideologies or positions which coalesce under our Democratic banner to achieve a majority in the legislature on their own.

For now, I think it makes sense to continue to work to influence the coalition of Democrats we've been able to cobble together so far, and try and hold on to the fragile majority that the President was presented with.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

17. The only weapon we have to fight with is our votes.

Which is why I vote issues rather than Party or Politician. Working within the system has landed us a further right Democratic Party run by professional politicians who look upon winning elections as the end all and be all.

The government is now controlled by centrists who are moving the party right by collaborating with the Republicans. I'm not a moderate or Republican and see no reason to support those who would continue to move the party closer to the Republicans while saying we have "no choice" but to go along.

[bigtree]

18. that might be so

. . . if our responsibility ended at the ballot box. It doesn't.

We have a choice. We can either support our party, or leave the legislative floor to the opposition and their 'enthusiastic' supporters. It isn't as if you can manage your ideals into action or law (or effectively defend against the opposition's) from the street, and, there's no guarantee that candidates or legislators will recognize or appreciate your absence from the electoral process like you envision they will. They might just as surely be convinced of the need to rely on the reliably-voting right (or middle) for their votes.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

20. There's no guarantee that politicians will recongnize or appreciate my vote either way.

In fact, since my first vote in 1966, I haven't seen an indication that the politicians I voted for, or against, give a rip about my vote. Nor, is there any indication that my vote has ever caused a politician to do anything other than send me letters begging for money and threatening dire destruction if the other politician wins.

I have long ago given up the notion that my vote will change much of anything. Or, the equally absurd notion that politicians are likely to do anything but seek to gain and retain power.

As a quote I recently saw said, "The successful politician tells the rich he will protect them from the poor and the poor that he will protect them from the rich, and does neither."

[bigtree]

23. that's most of it, alright

. . . but I'm not convinced that if we just stood out of the way, in our own satisfied corners, that the opposition party wouldn't take even more advantage.


Virtue and Vigilance -

While the people retain their virtue and vigilance, no administration, by any extreme of wickedness or folly, can very seriously injure the government in the short space of four years. Abraham Lincoln

We must care enough to involve ourselves in every instigation of democracy which confronts us. Our government is a reflection of everything we choose to neglect and every cynical impulse we project. Those in power who are motivated by greed will show up every day to collect their share, and ours as well. Can we really afford to turn away and let all of the negative influences have the floor to themselves?

We have to come to grips with our individual responsibility to vigilance. We have to show up every day to make certain the government is representing all of the people; not just the corporate few who show up every day to collect our money. They will always fill the halls of Congress with their favors, bribes, and obstruction.

Through our virtue and our vigilance we must keep ourselves informed about those issues and concerns which we entrust to the bidding of those in Congress; and we must thoroughly involve ourselves in the process of resolving those issues and concerns in tandem with our legislators by challenging ourselves to read, watch and listen; with a respect and a desire for understanding of differing views and opinions in our deliberation and debate.

Through our virtue and our vigilance we must, in our respect for democracy, value and protect the right to vote. With our full participation in the voting process we promote respect for our nation and each other, and help ensure an equal chance for representation for all of our citizens in the deliberations of our government. Our vote is the instrument of our collective conscience and our warrant to the realization of our freedom, our liberty, and our well-being.


more . . . http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article4972.htm

[Hannah Bell]

27. i think it would be an interesting experiment

[GreenArrow]

28. Yeah! But you gotta keep believing!

Keep believing!

[LWolf]

14. Neoliberal change is not change I can believe in.

I keep on believing that I was correct about Obama from the beginning. I'll keep on fighting neoliberal changes.

That doesn't stop me from voting. I didn't vote for anyone on my ballot this fall because of Obama. I voted for them because I wanted to elect them.

[NYC_SKP]

16. He's not kidding. We lead this country, we can act or we can bicker. Grab a broom.

We elect the congress critters and local representatives and, at least for the next few years, we still have the power to influence and educate other voters and make change happen.

Or we can bicker, or more to the point, a few on the left can bicker, I've got better things to do.

Well, screw that, there are bickerers on both sides and it's ugly.

The team that comes together wins the day.

Kick, recommend.

:patriot:

PS, Jerry Brown was awesome yesterday and brought with his crew the Secretary of State and Insurance Commissioner, to my park, to my town.

I'm working hard state-wide, hope you all are too.

:P

[Radical Activist]

19. God I hope they didn't play Journey.

Thanks for posting!

[treestar]

21. K&R

[Odin2005]

24. Grow a spine Mr. President.

[Scurrilous]

31. K & R

:thumbsup: