An Article on Barack Obama from 19.5 years ago....

[Tank Hankerous]

(edited for copyright purposes-proud patriot moderator Democratic Underground)


Sorry if you've seen this posted here before. Just thought it was an important historical note, and a reminder of how far this man has come in his life! This made international news. BTW Loving DU so far!


Copyright 1990 Toronto Star, All Rights Reserved.


Cook's grandson gets top legal post
Tammerlin Drummond Special to The Star (Los Angeles Times). Toronto Star. Toronto, Ont.: Mar 18, 1990. pg. D.5

http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2008/06/28/barackobama_harvard_wideweb__470x331,0.jpg

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Barack Obama stares silently at a wall of fading black-and-white photographs in the muggy second-floor offices of the Harvard Law Review. He lingers over one row of solemn faces, his predecessors of 40 years ago.

All are men. All are dressed in dark-colored suits and ties. All are white.

It is a sobering moment for Obama, 28, who in February became the first black to be elected president in the 102-year history of the prestigious student-run law journal.

The post, considered the highest honor a student can attain at Harvard Law School, almost always leads to a coveted clerkship with the U.S. Supreme Court after graduation and a lucrative offer from the law firm of one's choice.

Yet Obama, who has gone deep into debt to meet the $25,000-a- year cost of a Harvard Law School education, has left many in disbelief by asserting that he wants neither.

"One of the luxuries of going to Harvard Law School is it means you can take risks in your life," Obama said recently. "You can try to do things to improve society and still land on your feet. That's what a Harvard education should buy - enough confidence and security to pursue your dreams and give something back."

After graduation next year, Obama says, he probably will spend two years at a corporate law firm, then look for community work. Down the road, he plans to run for public office.

Blend of cultures

The son of a Kenyan economist and an American anthropologist, Obama is a tall man with a quick, boyish smile whose fellow students rib him about his trademark tattered blue jeans.

"I come from a lot of worlds and I have had the unique opportunity to move through different circles," Obama said. "I have worked and lived in poor black communities and I can translate some of their concerns into words that the larger society can embrace."

(snip)

LOS ANGELES TIMES

[Adelante]

1. Welcome to DU, Tank Hankerous

:hi:

The rules are you need to cut copyrighted material down to 4-5 paragraphs and provide a link to the rest. Just FYI.

Enjoy :)

[Cha]

23. Want to say hi

to you, too, Adelante.

:hi:

[Adelante]

26. Hey, Cha

Nice to see you :hug:

[spiritual_gunfighter]

2. Thanks for posting this I hadnt read it before

This quote caught my eye

Some of Obama's peers question the motives of this second-year law student. They find it puzzling that despite Obama's openly progressive views on social issues, he has also won support from staunch conservatives. Ironically, he has come under the most criticism from fellow black students for being too conciliatory toward conservatives and not choosing more blacks to other top positions on the law review.

That certainly hasnt changed.

[tblue]

4. And this one:

"His election was significant at the time, but now it's meaningless because he's becoming just like all the others (in the Establishment)."

I have a feeling we're gonna be tearing out our hair throughout this presidency.

[spiritual_gunfighter]

5. Yeah this article is really interesting

It does tell us a lot about him, and how some of the things we dont like about him currently, his classmates didnt like about him back then.

[goclark]

7. It also tells us why so many loved and admired him nt

[spiritual_gunfighter]

9. Equally as true n/t

[impik]

16. "WE"? I'm sure you're not talking on my behalf

[intheflow]

21. Yes! that line is almost presentient!

This was very enlightening, Thanks for finding and sharing. And welcome to DU! :hi:

[JohnnyLib2]

3. Thanks, useful article.

And that was one amazingly astute writer.

[Fearless]

27. Indeed, very useful.

The question remains, what were his goals and did he accomplish them.

[FrenchieCat]

60. well according to this article, it appears that he left an impression....certainly.

CAMBRIDGE -- It was just a five-on-five game between some law students at a Harvard gym, until someone jabbed a hard foul. An argument broke out, and pretty soon players were in one another's faces.

To the players who were on the court that day, it seemed punches were about to be thrown.

Then a skinny, soft-spoken forward with tight shorts and high socks named Barack Obama raced out from the sideline and put himself between two of the warring players.

"He said, 'Guys, this is not serious -- it's just a pickup game,' " recalled one of the players, Earl Martin Phalen, Harvard Law Class of 1993. Laughing, he added: "There was all this testosterone exploding, and he just kind of had perspective. . . . We ended up chilling it out."

.....
"A lot of people at the time were just talking past each other, very committed to their opinions, their point of view, and not particularly interested in what other people had to say," said Crystal Nix Hines, a classmate who is now a television writer. "Barack transcended that."

.....
Obama was so evenhanded and solicitous in his interactions that fellow students would do impressions of his Socratic chin-stroking approach to everything, even seeking a consensus on popcorn preferences at the movies. "Do you want salt on your popcorn?" one classmate, Nancy L. McCullough, recalled, mimicking his sensitive bass voice. "Do you even want popcorn?"

....
Even in his first year, students saw Obama as a peacemaker. When his class needed someone to present an end-of-the-year gift to one stuffy contracts professor, the students chose Obama, who delivered a brief, gracious tribute.

"It was a moment of diffused tension and levity," said Kenneth W. Mack, a Harvard Law School professor who was in Obama's class. "He pulled it off."
.....
"Barack was a stabilizing influence in that he would absolutely support those efforts, but was also someone who could discuss and debate them with students or faculty who had different views," said Professor Charles J. Ogletree Jr., who became Harvard's seventh tenured black professor in 1993.

......
....
As editor for two semesters, Obama spent 50 to 60 hours a week holed up in a second-floor office of Gannett House, a 19th century building overlooking Cambridge Common. He reviewed hundreds of articles, on topics ranging from corporate law to racial bias in auto pricing, and presided over long, heated debates in the cluttered first-floor lounge.

"Even though he was clearly a liberal, he didn't appear to the conservatives in the review to be taking sides in the tribal warfare," said Bradford A. Berenson, a former Bush administration lawyer who was an editor at the review.

"The politics of the Harvard Law Review were incredibly petty and incredibly vicious," Berenson said. "The editors of the review were constantly at each other's throats. And Barack tended to treat those disputes with a certain air of detachment and amusement. The feeling was almost, come on kids, can't we just behave here?"


A polished leader
Sometimes he sounded like he was already running for public office, giving studied, measured responses in interviews with The Harvard Law Record. Asked in 1991 if he could do one thing differently in his last year at the Review, Obama said, "I don't know that it was possible to do it any other way than I did it, but I would have liked to have had the luxury of being more strategic about my tenure."
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/01/28/at_harvard_law_a_unifying_voice/

[Fearless]

64. An impression is fine...

But what were his goals and were they accomplished. It's important. A person can be effective at doing nothing as easily as they can be effective at doing something. At this point it seems more like he's doing nothing, with health care, DOMA, DADT, etc. still not moving anywhere. I'm curious because I'd like some insight into how this is going to play out. It may be that he is effect at making changes or it may be that he is successful at moderating other's decisions. It is important to figure out which to see where we stand today.

[FrenchieCat]

65. Obviously the goals of a one year tenure as Law Review President

won't tell you as much as you might want to know....
However, if it had been a disaster, what is obviously something
we would have heard about during his two year campaign
from his opposition, and of course we heard nothing about anything like that...

In fact, what has been reported from all of those who worked with him
was that his leadership was affective, and that's something valuable to take
from that history.

So, in miny mind, it does appear to have been successful
whatever he did, he did a good job......
but of course, that position itself doesn't lend to being able to equate
to the position he currently holds; to be able to change the world.

As for playing it out, only time will tell in this job,
as we cannot know all before it happens,
so no, we can't figure out how it will all play out,
nor would it be even reasonable to know with any degree of certainty.
which is vastly different from that other one.

[Fearless]

69. As I said, it would be interesting to know more.

[goclark]

6. K and R

Bookmarked!

Every Teacher should read this piece, especially those that work with Gifted students.

The President's broad based experiences with various cultures and his ability to get along with people who do not share his views helped to shape the man.

Perhaps that is why he is misunderstood by some ~ most people in his generation grew up in the same town with the same friends for most of their lives. They didn't have to keep changing locations/countries/friends during their life time.

As a student, he had it all --- bravo to his parents and his teachers!

[JohnnyLib2]

12. True, true.

[Zomby Woof]

14. As a military brat

I know of what you speak (or wrote, rather). I grew up in different states, and different countries, with different languages and cultures. It does make identity fluid and less rigid, which can be as alien to people who have lived their lives in one place, as their solitary experience is to ours.

[goclark]

19. I agree ~ I've lived in the East, Mid West and California

Just that has given me a broader perspective.

I have friends in Maryland that can't even imagine how anyone could live in California. They have never lived anywhere else, all their family and their friends are still there, many in the same neighborhoods where they grew up.

I'm not putting living in one place down but it does narrow your experiences.

Another example, I am African American and for many years a School Administrator.

When I moved from CA to the Mid West,I interviewed for a job.
The first question out in my interview was ~

" Have you ever worked with children of various ethnic groups?"

That sealed the deal for me ~ after I started giving them the racial make ups of the school communities that I had served, I had more experience with various Racial Groups than any Administrator in that District.

My broad based experiences were always a plus for me, not a minus.

Seems like it paid off for our President too! :patriot:

[Hekate]

40. Very true. And an incredible mother.

:thumbsup:

[impik]

45. Yea, but according to Michael Moore

He's not really his mom's son...

[Helga Scow Stern]

50. What?

What are you talking about?

[NYC_SKP]

8. K and R and welcome to DU!

:hi:

PS, nice sig line!

[Froward69]

10. I first read this in college.

and back then merely thought "good for him" without any thought of what his future would be.

(I was too busy back then chasing tail, beer and laughter. to think of much else) ;)

[frazzled]

11. The consistency of Obama's demeanor and operational mode across the years

was one of the things that led me to support him early on. Articles like this one, dating back to law school; personal conversation with a colleague of his at University of Chicago law school; observation of his career in Illinois state politics: it all painted a very consistent picture. I knew exactly what I would be getting, and it is consonant with what we have gotten thus far. To me, it is refreshing to see a politician who has not been afraid, from the very beginning, to stay true to himself--despite criticism from both sides. He does not shift with the political winds, or do things to be popular. Yes, he does have progressive stands, and yes, he does listen respectfully to people who disagree with him. No, he is not a firebrand. He is at once pragmatic and idealistic. That may be a conundrum to some, but it makes sense to me, and has from the beginning. It is rare to find someone with this sort of internal consistency.

[tyne]

13. And then compare this

with Sarah Palin's college days.

[HopeOverFear]

17. you mean college(s) days

:rofl:

[impik]

15. The pragmatic/idealistic combination is what

makes him so good.

[FrenchieCat]

18. The same can be said if one reads his books, which should be required reading

to those who are really interested in understanding the person who is currently the President of this country. The difference between him and other Presidents before is that one doesn't have to wonder what makes him tick, cause there are pages and pages of information on this.

What I find about Barack Obama that I admire is that he believes in allowing people to do their jobs, whatever that job might be, and judging them by the work done rather than by any other measure. In that way, he gives folks a whole lot more benefit of the doubt, than he has ever been granted, thereby providing opportunity for those involved to take part in the process that is their job description; in that way, they become responsible and accountable for their part.

In that same way, he is allowing us, the American people to do our job in being active in this democracy, and it will be us that are responsible if we succeed or fail. He is not our daddy, and he doesn't treat us as children and does not encourage that we wholly rely on him to get everything done. That's the problem, isn't it.....? That we have become a nation that totally relies on the actions of others, in this case, this one man, while we sit there in judgment; which is not what democracy is about in the first place.

That's why I support those who oppose his decisions, although I do not think that calling him names and shouting out labels describing him is doing any real work of value that does anything for anyone.....rather, same folks need to organize and make themselves heard, no just by Barack Obama, but by all of those in power as well as the rest of the nation. Now is the best time in this country to affect the kind of change that one wants, but it is the approach of getting that done that is key. Screaming loudly in disgust ain't the way; organizing and working to affect the system from the ground up is. He, himself, has shown us a map of how it is done, and we should take him up on his statement that we are the ones that we have been waiting for.

[impik]

43. A-men. Excellent post. Another required read is

'The Audacity To Win'. That's where you get everything you need to know about the politician, but it's also emphasize the morals and integrity of the man. After reading this book, you understand why so many people are willing to walk through fire for this guy.

[Helga Scow Stern]

51. Hear here! FrenchieCat!

Tell it like it is....which seems to be something you are gifted at, despite opposition.

[inna]

63. I wish I could recommend this post - particularly, the last paragraph.

I often disagree with you, FC - but not on this one.

:hi:

[Pisces]

25. I agree , he has been consistent throughout his life. There is no one else I would want

to be President.

[silverweb]

39. Amen, amen.

:thumbsup:

[Hekate]

41. Same here, only I never heard of him until his Convention speech, which blew me away...

... after which I read his first book. Everything since then has been as you say. I truly admire the man and hope he (and we) get him for the full 8 years.

Hekate

[HughMoran]

20. Thanks for posting

Very enlightening...

[Cha]

22. Thanks Tank..that

was interesting!

Welcome to DU.

[Number23]

24. Welcome to DU! Thank you so much for posting this

Obama is a man of many worlds and as such, it doesn't surprise me in the least that some people would have a hard time figuring him out. Particularly black people, who tend to be more pragmatic and common sense-oriented. Seeing a brother from Hawaii who grew up in Indonesia and has wild ideas about "diplomacy" must have had more than a few brothers and sisters scratching their heads. :rofl:

But it is exactly this way of thinking and of being that makes him a man for this time and a leader for this time. And I have no doubt that even black folks who may think that Obama was born on Pluto recognize this -- a major contributor I'm sure to his 91% approval rating amongst blacks. I am so glad that he is President of our country right now. Happy to rec. Thanks again for posting.

[Joshua N]

33. that's why he has a high approval rating among blacks

because he IS common sense oriented and pragmatic. Black community holds hope and dreams in one hand and realism in the other, always have. That's why black people are still going out to vote in 2010, and we STILL do not get our initiatives passed. And what's funny is that what's good for black people in terms of initiatives is good for ALL people.

[Number23]

37. "Black community holds hope and dreams in one hand and realism in the other"

Could not agree more. :fistbump:

We have always been the first on the frontlines of every war (literally) and every social battle in this country. As a result, we are usually the first ones tossed aside by both Democrats and Repubs. No wonder I'm hearing about more and more black people becoming independents. If that were to happen in significant numbers, the Dem party would straight up DIE. That's it. It's over. Done.

[pundaint]

47. What's left of the Democratic Party to die?

The Right have the Republican Party.

The Right have the Blue Dogs of the Democratic party
The Moderates have the Democratic party.
The Corporatists have the Democratic party

The Progressives have Absolutely no positive voting option in our two party system. If you want a government that serves the pressing needs of the People which have been given a back seat for 40 years, you have no party in America. What we got is Democratic Disenfranchisement. The leaders of our party have become so arrogant as to think the power we lent them is theirs. They will not use our power in our best interests. I'm not going to give them any more of my power in 2010, I'm going to give it to someone else.

[raventattoo]

28. That article has no merit...

because it states he was born in Hawaii.

Obviously there was no true investigation into his true "roots"!!!

:sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm:

[digidigido]

29. "His election was significant at the time, but now it's meaningless because

he's becoming just like all the others (in the Establishment)." That's the quote that gets me.
I've never been more disappointed by someone. The book should be called "The Audacity of
Giving us Hope" and the paucity of it that we have

[Algorem]

30. so has anyone figured out his motives yet?

[Exultant Democracy]

34. To get elected to any office he runs for. Amazing campaigner, slightly better then average president

I'll probably vote for him again and pop a few Tums afterwards..

[Algorem]

67. sounds right

[Blue_Tires]

31. k+r

[Grassy Knoll]

32. K & R Great read.

[Stardust]

35. It's sad that the very things I admire him for are the very things I want to clobber

him for.


"He's willing to talk to them (the conservatives) and he has a grasp of where they are coming from..."

"These are the people who will be running the country in some form or other when they graduate. If I'm talking to a white conservative who wants to dismantle the welfare state, he has the respect to listen to me and I to him."

Thanks for posting that.

[Hekate]

36. Obama's character is consistent across time. Welcome to DU, Tank; I had not read this before...

Thanks for posting it.

Hekate

edited to correct Hank's name ;-)

[silverweb]

38. A wonderful article.

Welcome to DU, Tank Hankerous, and thanks for posting this!

[Undercurrent]

42. Thanks for posting this article.

Richard C., is that you? :)

[truthrocks]

44. Thank You for the wake-up call ... bailers beware

Obama promised CHANGE. To all those Obama supporters who are bailing because you don't like how he's doing it: shame on you. He didn't say it was gonna be fun or easy or comfortable or exactly the way YOU wanted it. This is what REAL change looks like. It's chaotic and ugly and messy and confusing and frustrating and a million other unpleasant adjectives. Especially when there's a sh*tload of built-up crappy govmt and global policy to be cleaned out. This is a freakin' long-term effort! It was easy to support him in the campaign - that was fun and exciting. This is the hard part. This is when he needs your support more than ever. Please stop whining and get over yourselves. Thank you.

:think:

[Deja Q]

54. What he promised was very open-ended, vague, and allowed people to think what they want.

In short, he's a politician.

I do agree, there are no short-term fixes.

I do agree, people were saying that 4 years of McCain and continuing the same policies would destroy this country.

This is not abut ourselves. This is about Main Street - the road you and I both live on. That was what Candidate Obama was alluding to during the campaigning.

He will still get my support, despite being inconsistent regarding wanting single-payer from 2003 (a truly win-win situation for companies and workers) and now cutting medicare. For McCain's preaching the same right-wing drivel (tax cuts to create jobs, like that's EVER ONCE WORKED, HINT FRIGGING HINT), combined with using fear over the jobs situation at Americans if he didn't get elected was enough to turn me off. But, about those links, those aren't vague. They're single-focused and straight-to-the-point. Quite a contrast, isn't it? Those are also why people call Obama a socialist, communist, or whatever else. Despite his preferring to help insurance companies and multinatioanl corporations. Does it take that long to eliminate "government subsidy" for the large corporations, the same ones who piss on their workers and fellow countrymen at the same time as getting their handouts? (Never mind the bailouts.)

Real change is taking positive action to fix a broken system. Everyone knows the system is broken. Does all change need to be slow? If a building is about to collapse, do you rush in with struts to support its foundation and infrastructure, stand there and continue to let the infrastructure be pulled out from underneath you, or surprise everyone by summarily putting in a new foundation?

(BTW: The last paragraph is vaguely worded. It'll be fun to read what people interpret from it.)

[sunnybrook]

56. truthrocks

I'm with you!:fistbump: Some of us see the bigger picture!

[Douglas Carpenter]

46. kick and recommend

[backwoodsbob]

48. down the road...

*After graduation next year, Obama says, he probably will spend two years at a corporate law firm, then look for community work. Down the road, he plans to run for public office.*


Ya think? :P

[Helga Scow Stern]

49. Thanks for reminding us of the roots of our POTUS.

My brother just about bit my head off when I criticized Obama's Afghanistan approach. "He is not doing anything different from what he said he would do!" he reprimanded. I don't argue with him because he is an expert on trees, and that means he has seen it all.

[Deja Q]

55. Agreed.

I'm in full support of him re: Afghanistan.

[druidity33]

52. is there a link? nt.

[seafan]

58. Very interesting piece.

Barack Obama, Harvard Law Review editor, March 19, 1990, LA Times, September 4, 2008

.....

Yet some of Obama's peers question the motives of this second-year law student. They find it puzzling that despite Obama's openly progressive views on social issues, he has also won support from staunch conservatives. Ironically, he has come under the most criticism from fellow black students for being too conciliatory toward conservatives and not choosing more blacks to other top positions on the law review.

"He's willing to talk to them (the conservatives) and he has a grasp of where they are coming from, which is something a lot of blacks don't have and don't care to have," said Christine Lee, a second-year law student who is black. "His election was significant at the time, but now it's meaningless because he's becoming just like all the others (in the Establishment)."

.....

Fast forward to late 2009.





The Surge We Need at Home, December 5, 2009

By David A Love

Sometimes, messes are so big that you just can’t fix them. The best thing to do is to leave it alone, and walk away, before you make things worse.

Afghanistan is one of those big messes. President Obama’s decision to claim ownership of the war in Afghanistan—by sending 30,000 more troops to fight the unwinnable war—is an example of misplaced priorities and misguided advice. As the White House parrots the Bush administration by launching a surge in Afghanistan, there is a domestic crisis that requires our attention. And this crisis is a far greater threat to national security than any foreign terrorists, real or imagined. A surge is needed, to be sure, but it is needed here at home.

Of course, the domestic crisis of which I speak is the nation itself. Simply put, America is a mess. Unemployment is over 10 percent, while the effective unemployment rate—which also includes the underemployed—is more like 19.2 percent. In the first three quarters of 2009, there were more than 2.6 million foreclosure filings, with a projected total of 3.2-3.4 million property foreclosures for the year. In the "land of plenty", 40 percent of the food supply is wasted, one in eight people uses food stamps, as does one in four children. About half of American children, and 90 percent of black children, will live in a household that depends on food stamps at some point before they turn 20. And 63 percent of teachers buy food for hungry students with their own money. Is this the most we can expect from the world’s greatest superpower?

Meanwhile, we are told the economy is recovering because Wall Street has recovered. Wall Street never had it so good, as the banks bask in the glow of their TARP-bailout, corporate-welfare recipient status. As the titans of finance are rewarded for their greed, failure, and demolition of the U.S. economy, the upward redistribution of wealth continues in this country. Those who have the most are getting more and more. A consumer-based economy ceases to function as such when the consumers are jobless, penniless, homeless, and hungry. It doesn’t take an expert or professional commentator to realize that something is fundamentally wrong with this nation’s economic system, and that the public will not sustain more of this suffering without some repercussions. For further information on the nature of the repercussions we can expect, you only need to consult history.

Surely, the Obama team is smart enough to know this. After all, they have fancy degrees and extensive book learning. But it would seem that the advisors who are misguiding the President on the economy are as useless—or perhaps as harmful—as his advisors on Afghanistan. Just look at his economic team. Larry Summers is Director of the White House's National Economic Council. In his old job as president of Harvard, Summers ignored warnings not to put so much of the university’s money into the stock market. As a result, the world’s largest university endowment lost $1.8 billion. And this man is the President’s economic czar?

Or take a look at Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner, who failed to pay Medicare and Social Security payroll taxes for four years. Geithner, according to one observer, “should never have been appointed to anything. He's been wrong about just about everything for 15 years.” As head of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Geithner oversaw the bailout of AIG. Further, he has been criticized for giving away tens of billions of taxpayer dollars to counterparties that contracted with AIG—a cash transfer amounting to one hundred cents on the dollar, to be exact. Geithner was a part of the problem in helping create the financial crisis and failing to protect the taxpayers from vultures. Now, calls for his resignation are coming from both sides of the aisle.

.....

.....

Instead of fighting this war, we could be fighting for the people of West Virginia. For what folks in this state have been spending on the Iraq war, we could be giving health care to nearly 450,000 of your neighbors, hiring nearly 30,000 new elementary school teachers, and making college more affordable for over 300,000 students.

We could be fighting to put the American dream within reach for every American – by giving tax breaks to working families, offering relief to struggling homeowners, reversing President Bush’s cuts to the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, and protecting Social Security today, tomorrow, and forever. That’s what we could be doing instead of fighting this war.

Instead of fighting this war, we could be fighting to make universal health care a reality in this country. We could be fighting for the young woman who works the night shift after a full day of college and still can’t afford medicine for a sister who’s ill. For what we spend in several months in Iraq, we could be providing them with the quality, affordable health care that every American deserves.

Instead of fighting this war, we could be fighting to give every American a quality education. We could be fighting for the young men and women all across this country who dream big dreams but aren’t getting the kind of education they need to reach for those dreams. For a fraction of what we’re spending each year in Iraq, we could be giving our teachers more pay and more support, rebuilding our crumbling schools, and offering a tax credit to put a college degree within reach for anyone who wants one.

Instead of fighting this war, we could be fighting to rebuild our roads and bridges. I’ve proposed a fund that would do just that and generate nearly two million new jobs – many in the construction industry that’s been hard hit by our housing crisis. And it would cost just six percent of what we spend each year in Iraq.

Instead of fighting this war, we could be freeing ourselves from the tyranny of oil, and saving this planet for our children. We could be investing in renewable sources of energy, and in clean coal technology, and creating up to 5 million new green jobs in the bargain, including new clean coal jobs. And we could be doing it all for the cost of less than a year and a half in Iraq.

These are the investments we could be making, all within the parameters of a more responsible and disciplined budget. This is the future we could be building. And that is why I will bring this war to an end when I’m President of the United States of America.


-----

Remarks for Senator Barack Obama: 'The Cost of War'
University of Charleston, Charleston, West Virginia
Thursday, March 20, 2008 - As Prepared for Delivery

A multigenerational battle looms ahead of us for the heart, soul and future of our country.

[druidity33]

61. Thank You! nt.

[inna]

62. Great post! Please make it an OP, more people should read this!

The only reason I even saw this post is that I'm following your journal (since, in my "book", you are one of the best posters on this site, and I always appreciate your posts)!

[seafan]

68. You are very kind, inna. Thank you for giving a damn about this mess.

And a genuine mess it is.

Peace.

[Deja Q]

53. Nice article.

I just wish he would treat Main Street on equal terms as Wall Street; for Main helps Wall more than vice-versa. That's the one thing I'm having difficulties with; there's a lot I've agreed with him on.

[Hamlette]

57. did the patriot moderator remove the link too?

bummer, I'd like to read the rest of the article but the moderator removed it and there is no link.

[seafan]

59. Here is a link.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedailymirror/2008/09/barack-obama-ha.html

[uberllama42]

66. $25,000 a year- wow

I'm going to apply to law school at Penn next year, and if I get in, I'll be paying more than double that. Ick.

Very interesting piece.