By Antonio D. French
Filed Sunday, December 16, 2007 at 10:51 AM
I spent 11 hours on a bus yesterday riding to and from Iowa to campaign in a snow storm for Barack Obama. I was one of 130 St. Louisans — including a statewide elected official, two state senators and a former mayor — that made the long trek on a snowy Saturday morning because we believe Senator Obama is the best person to restore America's promise of hope and greatness. Labels: Endorsements, Obama
After I get a bit more rest, I'll piece together some video and photos from the trip for you all to see. But here are a few thoughts about the journey.
First, it was remarkable to see the wide range of people whose lives Obama has touched and to whom he brings personal inspiration.
It was former St. Louis mayor Vince Schoemehl who told the rest of our group yesterday that every generation has a great and inspirational leader — in the same tradition as Presidents J.F.K. and F.D.R. For this generation, he said, that man is Barack Obama.
Along with Mayor Schoemehl, other believers on board included State Auditor Susan Montee from St. Joe, MO; State Senators Maida Coleman and Jeff Smith (St. Louis City); St. Louis Aldermen Kacie Starr Triplett (6th Ward) and Sam Moore (4th Ward); Northwoods Alderman Errol Bush; Committeewoman Yaphett El-Amin (1st Ward); and dozens of students, professionals, educators, teens, and homemakers.
After the five-hour drive to Ottumwa, we stopped by the Obama campaign headquarters for a quick training in door-to-door campaigning and were quickly out in the snow, making our way from house to house.
To a one, every Iowan I spoke to was extraordinarily nice, especially considering I must've been the 15th campaigner to knock on their door this month. And most that I talked to were leaning towards or definitely caucusing for Obama. Three times I was told "anybody but Hillary." I coded that ABH.
The one thing I wished I could share most with my St. Louisans back home — especially my African-American brothers and sisters — is how frustratingly wrong so many of them are when they say this ignorant rant of "white folks ain't gonna support no black man for president."
This was something I recently discussed on the "Sunday Morning Live" radio show (see video).
Every Obama supporter I saw in Iowa was white, middle-class, tired of the direction of our country, and inspired by the hope represented by Barack Obama.
This is a different country than the one my parents and grandparents knew. The problem is that too many of our political leaders haven't realized it. Obama does.
On the way back, I read on my phone that the Boston Globe had endorsed Obama in the very important New Hampshire primary on Jan. 8.
The editorial, like our Iowa trip, was truly inspiring.
From the Boston Globe, Dec. 15, 2007:THE FIRST American president of the 21st century has not appreciated the intricate realities of our age. The next president must. The most sobering challenges that face this country - terrorism, climate change, disease pandemics - are global. America needs a president with an intuitive sense of the wider world, with all its perils and opportunities. Senator Barack Obama of Illinois has this understanding at his core. The Globe endorses his candidacy in New Hampshire's Democratic presidential primary Jan. 8.
Many have remarked on Obama's extraordinary biography: that he is the biracial son of a father from Kenya and a mother who had him at 18; that he was raised in the dynamic, multi-ethnic cultures of Hawaii and Indonesia; that he went from being president of the Harvard Law Review to the gritty and often thankless work of community organizing in Chicago; that, at 46, he would be the first post-baby-boom president.
What is more extraordinary is how Obama seals each of these experiences to his politics. One of the lessons he took from organizing poor families in Chicago, he says, was "how much people felt locked out of their government," even at the local level. That experience anchors his commitment to transparency and accountability in Washington.
Similarly, his exposure to foreign lands as a child and his own complex racial identity have made him at ease with diversity - of point of view as well as race or religion. "I've had to negotiate through different cultures my whole life," he says. He speaks with clarity and directness, and he is also a listener, a lost art in our politics.
In what looks like prescience today, Obama was against the Iraq war from the start. But his is not the stereotypical 1960s antiwar reflex. "I don't oppose all wars," he said in the fall of 2002. "I'm opposed to rash wars."
When it comes to waging peace, Obama has the leadership skills to reset the country's reputation in the world. He notes, for example, that the United States would be in a stronger position with Iran if it took more seriously its own commitment to the nuclear nonproliferation treaty. His bill, cosponsored with Senator Richard Lugar, to add conventional weapons to the nation's threat reduction initiative, became law this year.
On domestic issues, the major Democratic candidates are reduced to parsing slivers of difference. But Obama has been more forthright in declaring his slightly heterodox positions to traditional Democratic constituencies. His support for merit pay for teachers, or a cap on carbon emissions, suggests a healthy independence from the established order.
The first major bill to Obama's name in the Illinois Legislature was on campaign ethics reform. In Washington, he coauthored this year's sweeping congressional lobbying reform law. When he describes his approach to healthcare negotiations, he says, "The insurance and drug companies will get a seat at the table, but they won't get to buy every chair."
Obama's critics, and even many who want to support him, worry about his relative lack of experience. It is true that other Democratic contenders have more conventional resumes and have spent more time in Washington. But that exposure has tended to give them a sense of government's constraints. Obama is more animated by its possibilities.
In our view, the choice on the Democratic side is between Obama and Hillary Clinton. Clinton has run a diligent, serious campaign, and her command of the issues is deep and reassuring. But her approach is needlessly defensive, a backward glance at the bruising political battles of the 1990s. Obama's candidacy looks forward.
Obama's memoir, "Dreams From My Father," is divided into three main sections. The first is a reflection on his youthful search for identity. The second recounts his days in Chicago, which include the first stirrings of a religious life. The third is a roots pilgrimage to Kenya, to better understand his often absent father. It is hard to read this book without longing for a president with this level of introspection, honesty, and maturity - and Obama published it when he was only 33.
"I genuinely believe that our security and prosperity are going to depend on how we manage our continued integration into the rest of the world," he says. Obama's story is the American story, a deeply affecting tale of possibility. People who vote for him vote their hopes. Even after seven desolating years, this country has not forgotten how to hope.
25 Comments:
Hope all you want. It will get you nowhere. The big name candidates are all just fakes. I'm going to be enjoying myself when Obama/Clinton shows people what idiots they really are.
12/16/2007 10:57 AM
Brilliantly written editorial from the Boston Globe. This country needs hope and Obama is the one. Looking forward to part 2 of your story.
12/16/2007 11:31 AM
Thank you for that story Antonio. The level and viciousness of the Clinton camp toward Obama is evidence of how strong he is, is so many ways. He is fantastic.
12/16/2007 11:33 AM
And you, Anony #1, who will you be voting for?
Or will you be one of the millions of complainers that never bother to get off their asses and at least vote, which is the very minimum someone can do to help shape the direction of their government?
12/16/2007 11:34 AM
Sorry Antonio, Kuchinich is the one.
12/16/2007 12:25 PM
anon 1---don't know if you are a republican---but if you are---the choices they offer this year would make me grumpy, too.
The Iowa paper endorsed Bill Clinton's campaign. The five women on one man were wined and dined by Bill himself, to seal the deal. Hillary's campaign has imploded---I would not be surprised to see Bill fire Mark Penn, as he takes over her campaign, using her as a figurehead for his third term. He really laid it out on the Charley Rose show---he is clearly pisssssed about the way his wife's campaign is being run.
Of Course, the Iowa paper has a long history of their endorsements doing no good. I read a poll which said 4 percent of the people are able to be influenced by their local paper's endorsement. 13 percent are likely to vote against their paper's endorsement. I am not too worried about the inevitable Clinton buyout of the pd's editorial page. The boston globe might help Obama in New hampshire.
12/16/2007 12:31 PM
Antonio, I agree with you. White people will endorse and put Obama in the WHITE house because he has proven he will play the game. He played it when he voted for the GANG ABATEMENT Legislation that gives prosecutors legalized double jeopardy. Federal sentencing can be applied to crimes that existed before the legislation even passed.
And you say he is our only hope? Hope to do what? Incarcerate our children for life?
As far as the comment regarding voters changing things? I thought the Supreme Court decided the 2000 election, not the voters.
And of course they knew how to decide it, because the president was selected at Bohemian Grove.
Now, who has been to the rituals at Bohemian Grove in the past 2 years? BILLARY!
12/16/2007 12:38 PM
http://knowyourdemocrats.googlepages.com/fullreport
12/16/2007 2:03 PM
kjoe;
Who needs Republicans when the Democrats would work just fine!?!
12/16/2007 2:06 PM
All I hear is personality and race. What about the issues? Where do the candidates stand on the issues facing this country
Barack Obama is bi-racial; therefore, in this particular case he is both black and white. Many biracial children say whites accept them more than blacks do. Therefore, Obama will have support of many non-prejudicial whites. What about non-prejudicial blacks?
Hopefully, issues will rue the day and not skin color, religion, or gender.
12/16/2007 3:06 PM
No, seriously, the Republicans have a 2008 roster every inch as unsatisfying as Democrats had in 2004.
Other anonymous, you must really be a big fan of Dennis "Kuchinich."
12/16/2007 3:45 PM
Nancy Drew said: "All I hear is personality and race."
Did you not read the Globe endorsement?
12/16/2007 4:01 PM
Antonio,
It's great to read your views on Obama! I too campaigned in Iowa, but for Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and John Kerry and those were some of the best days of my younger idealistic days. The people in Iowa were always freindly and seemed to like the attention they got every four years.
Keep up the positive attitude!! It is really inspirational for all your readers. We just have to believe in someone! I feel the same way about Hillary.
12/16/2007 4:31 PM
Nancy,
“Where do the candidates stand on the issues facing this country”?
It doesn’t take a detective to know that their have already been dozens of debates. If you haven’t seen any of them yet it’s your own fault.
Po Righteous,
“…put Obama in the WHITE house because he has proven he will play the game.”
When the games entrance fee is a couple million dollars you better be able to play. The job of President isn’t to dictate it’s to convince people to compromise. Our job as voters is to vote for the person that we believe will favor our individual goals.
Obama grew up in many different worlds White, Black, rural, urban, domestic, and foreign. He has worked as a community organizer, constitutional lawyer, teacher, and politician. I don’t know if we have ever had a presidential candidate with that divers a background that applies so directly to running this country.
I saw State Sen. Obama speak in 2002 to a couple hundred home care workers from all over Illinois; he got the crowed fired up. I saw Federal Sen. Obama speak in 2006 to a hundred rural folks in Metropolis Illinois; he got the crowed fired up. And every time I have seen Sen. Obama I have been fired up.
I don’t care what papers or spinsters say, I know with my own eyes and ears that Barack Obama is the best candidate for President.
12/16/2007 4:55 PM
Dennis Kucinich is the only real antiwar Democratic candidate, however since the USA doesn't require equal time for each candidate he is basically censored.
Don't be too sure that Obama will help out urban America. People thought Clinton would roll back decades of Republican cuts however the only thing he really did was enterprise zones, and the copied those from Hong Kong.
12/16/2007 5:26 PM
Doug,
Obama ran for senate with a platform that we shouldn’t invade Iraq and that is important… Maybe Antonio can add a little perspective to this, but in 2004 George Bush as well as many pro-war candidates were elected to office.
Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich can’t build consensus with each other or their party members. Neither man has lead or built any coalition to get the agenda they talk about passed.
I find it great that those to guys are getting a percentage of people fired up about politics, but all they do is vote. They are not building a movement and niether will be President.
12/16/2007 6:18 PM
So, Obama is building a movement of hope? He just authorized the DoD to continue in Iraq!
http://votesmart.org/issue_keyvote_detail.php?cs_id=V3855&can_id=9490
And sorry jason, I vote for who I agree with, not who I think will get elected.
12/16/2007 7:17 PM
Nancy Drew----never has it been easier to figure out where candidates stand on the issues---they all have extensive websites and virtually every significant issue is given detailed attention. I think the debate between Hillary and Obama on mandates in healthcare is interesting.
Mark Penn is someone Hillary should fire. Hiring and firing advisers and cabinent members, is a huge part of what makes a good president. Look at the garbage Bush has surrounded himself with. Obama already has a better track record than Hillary in choosing the people who surround him.
Hillary might be getting another big name endorsement---this one should seal the deal----maybe we could see her debate Oprah about their candidates.
The best way to make up your mind---consult Madonna?
MADONNA TO BACK HILLARY CLINTON?
Superstar MADONNA will be supporting presidential candidate HILLARY CLINTON in the upcoming U.S. elections, according to reports.
The 49-year-old, who is said to be a distant cousin of the former First Lady, was overhead discussing her plans to endorse the Democratic nominee in the 2008 elections at a premiere for husband Guy Ritchie’s new movie Revolver in New York.
A source tells British newspaper The Mail On Sunday, "She was chatting with guests at the premiere and said she planned to support Hillary. She said she could back her however she could and might even go on a rally." The Material Girl hitmaker’s representative insists the star has no official plans to campaign for the New York senator, but confirms, "She is a fan of Hillary."
12/16/2007 9:13 PM
Jason,
It is always difficult for "radicals" to build a coalition, especially in a political environment which inherently favors incrementalism. That being said, I would rather support a real anti-war candidate. Kucinich is the only democratic candidate who voted to not fund the war. Thus he is the only one who does what he says. That's what I care about. The other candidates talk about how the war is wrong but they don't have the balls to do what they say. That is hypocritical. Democrats may worry that by not funding the war they appear anti-troops, but is it better to fund the war and have kids my age die for lie? I say use the power of the purse and get the troops out of Iraq.
12/17/2007 11:59 AM
Doug,
I respect that your main issue is to stop U.S. intervention in Iraq. I didn’t want that to happen either.
The problem is that Bush and the Republicans invaded the county and installed incompetent leaders. The problem is that the way the constitution is written President Bush can send troops were ever he wants and congress can only prevent funding.
If congress doesn’t fund the Department of Defense and the President doesn’t order the troops home they are stuck in Iraq without funds to eat or come home with.
The other aspect is that because we are in the middle of this situation we are the stabilizing element in Iraq. If we pull out the troops their will probably be a civil war with all kinds of outside countries funding different factions. Then Turkey will probably make an attempt to invalid the Kurdish part of the country witch could force Saudi Arabia, Iran, or even Kuwait to invade other parts.
People of all ages will die no matter what is done. What’s important less US casualties or less people?
We need a president that can pull the factions in Iraq together before our troops can come home.
One last thing, the funding bill for the DOD has Section 1419 and 1061 witch prevents the DOD from making permenent US bases in Iraq qnd stoping the US forces from torturing persons in US custody. Thos are important steps twoardes getting us out of Iraq.
12/17/2007 4:53 PM
As I've articulated previously, I'm not hot for politicians based on my personal experience and involvement with local elected officials from St. Louis. However, I believe they can't be any worst than Lil George W. Bush.
I suggest conducting a litmus test. That is, by looking at how Barack, Clinton, Guliani...plus the others have voted as U.S Senators and Mayors.
Furthemore, remember, a vote for Hilary is a vote for Bill!! Former president Bill Clinton will run the show if Hilary's elected.
There's been a lot of talk about experience. As a CEO of an organization, you must surround yourself with leaders who know more about domestic and international issues versus yourself. You never see an attorney represent him or herself in Court. When was the last time you witness a doctor operating on him or herself?
In closing, I predict a democrat will win the presidency. Democrats need to learn how to respect one another....Nat Turner
12/18/2007 2:27 PM
to Nat Turner, much RASpeckt!
I however disagree with the idea that Bill will run the show because he didn't run it when he was president. Hillary did.
Secondly, as for voting records, no one is responding to my several posts regarding the legislation the entire Senate passed unanimously on September 21, 2007. While protesters were singing in Jena, LA on the 20th, the senate was sealing the fate of the most victimized group of people when it comes to unequal justice. As I said before, Mychal Bell's case was moved back to juvenile court, so as not to reveal the law that was passed on September 21st known as the Gang Abatement and other Juvenile Crime Bills. These laws give prosecutors and judges the right to use their discretion and if they so determine, apply federal sentencing to crimes ALREADY COMMITTED BEFORE THE LEGISLATION PASSED, if the judge or prosecutor believes they are gang related based on 2 or more in a group of similar attire, or gang solicitation, defined by asking someone to associate with you or come over and speak to you while in public in a group of 2 or more dressed in similar attire.
Now, if you are thinking, this post sounds silly, you should be outraged that OBAMA AND BILLARY VOTED FOR IT!
This type of legislation only gives amunition to those who continue to exercise unequal justice in this country.
Check their voting record!
12/19/2007 5:10 PM
Po,
If those 2 people you are talking about have 3 or more friends and as a group they have commited a couple felonys the bill considers them a gang.
Here is the text from the summary:
"formal or informal group, club, organization or association of five or more persons who have committed three or more separate felony crimes -- including at least one serious violent felony."
That is a resonable deffinition of a gang.
12/19/2007 7:02 PM
PO Righteous Teacher..You're probably right on target about the Clinton's. For all we know, Hilary may have filmed Monica and her Lil Hubby-Slick Rick-for a future documentary coming to a theatre soon (smile).
Why would Hilary want to go back to the scene of a crime?..I'm baffled!
I thought the White House was in flames this morning. Some people thought George may have been free-basing or cooking meth..Ha! Ha!..I know, I have a poor sense of humor.
Hey! "It is what it is!..
By the way, you're referring to Senate Bill(S.456), The Gang Abatement and Prevention Act of 2007-Title 1: New Federal Criminal Laws Needed To Fight Violent National, International, Regional, And Local Gangs That Affect Interstate And Foreign Commerce -(Sec.101).
Po R.Teacher, this law will amend the federal criminal code to expand prohibitions against criminal street gangs (negros)..simply put!
In addition, it defines & quote; criminal street gang & quote; as a formal or informal group, organization, or association of five or more individuals....La di da di da di....and so on!
In short, Po R T, this is just another attempt to control young black men. As you said, black America was sleep when this Bill slipped through the Senate.
This Bill is dangerous,as everything this government has instituted against Black America.
When the KKK (Knuckle-Head Ku Kluxers) were running rampant down south, the decsendents of Thomas Jefferson did not create legistlation or imposed criminal penalties to permanently eradicate these cowards. For the record, I'm not comparing gangs to hate groups. They're both bad!
Nevertheless, white America is afraid that this gang like behavior will infiltrate their communities. Too late!...White America is afraid of the Black American Gangster because drugs are being consumed by everyone, including:doctors, lawyers, cops and white housewives. DRUGS DON'T DISCRIMINATE!!! Too much MONEY!!!
The Mafia aren't tough enough for the Cartel(Columbians). That's right drugs are too heavy for Italians. Rent the movie "Cocaine Cowboys".
I'm digressing again, Senate Bill S.456 is just a band-aid for the failed war on drugs. If the government legalize soft drugs like marijuana you'll remove the criminal element. No Street Gangs!
Are we winning the war on drugs in Afganistan...Hell No!!...Are we winning the war on drugs being smuggled into the US from Mexico!! Hell No!! Will America stop little 16 year girls like Jamie Lynn Spears from getting pregnant??
The continued criminal spirit of this country from the day the Europeans first spilled blood on this land unti now, is the inherited lifestyle of present day decendents. Why are the people who have real solutions to these problems totally ignored, scorned and laughed at sadly?
Po Righteous Teacher, the laws get more stringent and the crimes get worse!!.....Nat Turner has 150 sit-ups remaining..(smile)
12/19/2007 7:59 PM
Finally someone with some sense!
Keep working that 6 pack!
Jason, the problem I have is that these type of laws are never applied across the board. They are just pulled out when the 1 to 4 ratio in special ed classes or 6 X 9 cells is declining.
If it were applied accurately, the entire federal govt. should be doing hard time because the United Snakes is the only gang on the planet.
"that our (dead white and clueless) flag was still there"
12/20/2007 9:29 AM
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