Barack Obama Articles

Letter: Obama and Indonesian politics

2008-11-03T20:47:00.000-08:00

Mon, 08/04/2008 11:04 AM | Reader's Forum

Several months ago there was a lot of excitement in Indonesia over the prospect of one of "its own" becoming elected president of the United States.

Barack Obama was fondly remembered as "Barry" by his fellow classmates and teachers from his former Menteng school who were all a-tither whereas his redneck American critics were using his Indonesian past as something alien and not to be trusted.

But as his campaign for the Democratic nomination unfolded we received increasing insight into ObamaMs actual political views.

These included support for abortion and same-sex marriages. His recent trip to Israel has displayed a decided tilt to that country away from Palestinians.

He has sided with the IsraeliMs in an undivided Jerusalem which should be recognized as the capital of Israel although many nations such as Indonesia continue to look to Tel Aviv as the capital of a country they would prefer not to recognize.

Lately his staff even asked headscarf-wearing Muslim women to leave the audience behind Obama in a televised speech. They are clearly trying to distance their candidate from any imputation that Obama is himself Muslim or is courting the support of Muslim voters.

One does wonder if IndonesiansM opinion of Obama would change once they understand that several of his political views challenge the conservative official stance of Indonesian society and its overwhelming support for Palestinians against Israel.

Certainly no Indonesian politician holding ObamaMs very liberal social views and support for Israel would have a hope in hell of achieving any kind of success in Indonesian politics.

T. COTTON
Pattaya, Thailand

Barack Obama: The international president

2008-11-03T20:45:00.000-08:00

Eric Walker , Jakarta | Sat, 08/09/2008 11:28 AM | Opinion

Whenever I discuss the 2008 U.S. presidential election with my Indonesian friends I find myself saying the same thing -- that I have been an Obama supporter from the start, I am in full support of his policies, and I am happy with the direction he has taken... but I am skeptical about his chances to win.

"Well what's wrong with him?" they usually ask, bewildered. "I've seen him on television, he sounds great, he seems very popular -- why don't you think he's going to win?"

I tell them not to let the big crowds and big applause fool you; America's golden boy is more vulnerable than you think, and it has a lot to do with his international appeal.

It's true that enthusiasm for Barack Obama around the world is sky-high. In July, Obama set out on a 9-day world tour to highlight his international popularity and beef up his foreign policy credentials. After strategic stops in Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, and Palestine, Obama drew huge crowds giving speeches in Berlin, Paris and London. Normally, this would be regarded as a huge accomplishment for a campaign, given the fact that the current president is welcomed by protests wherever he goes.

But at home, the trip was branded as a 'premature victory lap' by rival John McCain, and Obama was labeled as a naove narcissist more concerned with French public opinion than American public opinion. While Obama was off charming Western Europe, McCain was getting chummy with his own press corps, even passing out satirical press tags that said "JV Squad. Left Behind to Report in America." Furthermore, the trip did little to assuage many voters' concerns about Obama's lack of foreign policy experience, an issue that McCain holds a 15-point advantage in among voters.

As unfortunate as it is to say, Obama's time spent in Indonesia isn't doing him any favors. Many American voters are uncomfortable with the fact that their potential president spent part of his childhood in a majority-muslim country, despite the fact that Obama attended SD Fransiscus Assisi, a catholic school, and SDN Menteng 01, a school that taught all religions, and that he has been a practicing Christian his entire life. In fact, 15 percent of Americans think Obama is a Muslim according to a poll in April, this assumption being largely based on rumors that he was educated in an Indonesian madrassah.

Obama's popularity in the Islamic world has also earned him some dubious admirers that the McCain camp has been eager to point out. In April, Ahmed Yousuf, political advisor to Hamas said in an interview that, "actually we like Mr. Obama. We hope he will (win) the election and I do believe he is like John Kennedy, great man with great principle, and he has a vision to change America to make it in a position to lead the world community not with domination and arrogance."

This endorsement, coupled with Barack Obama's statements that he would establish diplomatic relations with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has given him headaches with America's pro-Israel electorate that remains skeptical of a president liked by people in the Middle East.

And then there's that whole race thing. This, like the religion question, shouldn't be a big deal, but it is. It's the same thing as imagining a Christian president of Indonesia. There's no reason why it can't happen, but no one sees it as a political reality at this point. There is an assumption that the president of a country that is 90 percent Muslim will be himself Muslim.

The statistics in the United States are a bit less extreme, with 65 perception of the population being white non-hispanic and about 12.5 perception being black, but for 219 years, America has elected White Anglo-Saxon Protestants to the Oval Office (with the exception being Kennedy, a Catholic), a trend that will be difficult for Obama to break.

Recently, Obama told a crowd that McCain and others in the Republican Party would try to scare voters by saying he, "doesn't look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills." He went on to explain "I don't come from central casting. I'm young, I haven't been on the national stage long, my name is Barack Obama, I'm African-American, I lived in Indonesia. I'm unfamiliar."

While Obama may be the breath of fresh air that many people in the international community have been waiting for after 8 years of holding their breath with the Bush administration, the same things that have given many people around the world a reason to support him are the same things that his opponents have been using as ammunition against him.

The Obama camp made the point that if other nations were allowed to vote in the American election, Obama would beat McCain by a sound margin in almost every country where there's been a poll. Unfortunately for him, the United States is still in the undecided column.

The writer is on an internship program with The Jakarta Post and a student of George Washington University.

Letter: My correspondence with Barack Obama

2008-11-03T20:38:00.000-08:00

Sat, 08/23/2008 9:57 AM | Reader's Forum (The Jakarta Post)

Rudolf Mrazak, 66, a professor of history at the University of Michigar Ann Arbor, was in the city and came to see me on the morning of Aug. 17.

The last time we saw each other was in 1996 at the Hague attending an international conference held by the Dutch Historical Society. Since he has written a book about Sjahrir and Tan Malaka: Politics and Exile in Indonesia, (1994), he presented a paper about the two leaders from the land of Minangkabau, West Sumatra, whom he said were born to be exiles. Meanwhile, I was asked to present my paper on the Indonesian press during the revolution.

During his visit to my house, Mrazak talked about the coming American presidential elections. He mentioned the years Senator Barack Obama had spent in Menteng Jakarta during his childhood, some 40 years ago.

He got the idea that I should write an e-mail to Obama asking him about his Menteng experience. Although Obama claims he is a Christian, there are Americans who believe that secretly he is a Muslim. "Let's see how he will respond," said Mrazak.

I politely declined, saying that I didn't know how to e-mail, but Mrazak insisted "Ask your granddaughter to send the e-mail on your behalf."

My granddaughter, Alma Fanniya, works for the Health Service Program (HSP), a USAID contractor in Jakarta, sent to Obama on my behalf on Aug. 19. The following is the text sent to Obama.

"My name is Rosihan Anwar, 86, former editor of the Pedoman (Guide) daily in Jakarta, which was banned by two Indonesian presidents -- Sukarno and Soeharto in 1961 and 1974 because of its oppositional stance. Nowadays, I am a senior journalist and columnist for several newspapers.

Herewith, I salute you and wish you God speed in attaining your ideas and aims. May you be successful through the coming convention and election.

I've written about you in my columns, including on your stay with your beloved mother in Jakarta 40 years ago, and although understandably you mostly keep quiet about your "Indonesian experiment" in the present climate of American politics prior to the election, I pray God you will endure and hopefully prevail. Greetings from old generation Indonesian journalist with best regard to your wife Michella and your two daughters."

Best regards, Rosihan Anwar.

Convinced that my letter would be totally ignored, I was surprised when promptly the following day a reply came to Alma from the Correspondence Team of Obama for America.

The following is an extract from the letter.

"Dear Alma, Thank you for contacting Obama for America. The volume of messages we are receiving has gone up recently and we appreciate hearing from you. While we cannot respond individually to thousands of messages per day, the level of interest and thoughtfulness of the comments reflected in these communications are very gratifying. Your thoughts on the campaign and America's future are greatly approached."

Apart from the reply to Alma, there also came a general letter from Obama addressed to "Dear Friend" obviously a prepared standardized reply letter sent to every American citizen who has sent Obama a message.

Here I must stop. Being impecunious; as much as I sympathize with Obama, "the boy from Menteng", who hopefully will make it to the White House, I cannot participate in the donation. Thus ends my brief encounter, e-mail-wise, with Obama. I am left wondering what friends of Professor Rudolf Mrazak should think of it.

ROSIHAN ANWAR
Jl. Surabaya 13, Jakarta

The A.P. Confirms That Photo Is Authentic

2008-09-02T20:52:00.000-07:00

By Matthew Weaver on August 15, 2008 at 6:00 AM in Barack Obama, Barry Soetoro

Yesterday, we published “Photo Documents Barry Soetoro: Indonesian Citizen, Muslim Religion.” One of our readers, who also has a blog, wrote to the Associated Press and received this confirmation:

From: Lutts, Matthew [mailto: [email address removed]
Sent: Thursday, August 14, 2008 15:39
To: matthew [email address partially removed]
Subject: FW: Can you confirm if this is a real AP photo?

Hello Matthew,

Yes, the image is legit.

BELOW is Matthew’s copy of the image, and his e-mail inquiry to the Associated Press:

From: Matthew J. Weaver [mailto:matthew@———–]
Sent: Wednesday, August 13, 2008 11:15 PM
To: WWP - AP Images General Email; APD - Permissions
Subject: Can you confirm if this is a real AP photo?

Hi,

There is a photo with caption “AP Photo/ Tatan Syuflana” posted at daylife.com that may or may not be an AP photo.

Text with this states: “18 months ago: This registration document, made available on Jan. 24, 2007, by the Fransiskus Assisi school in Jakarta, Indonesia, shows the registration of Barack Obama under the name Barry Soetoro into the Catholic school made by his step-father, Lolo Soetoro. The document lists Barry Soetoro as a Indonesian citizen, born on August 4, 1961 in Honolulu, and shows his Muslim step-father listed the boy’s religion as Islam.(AP Photo/ Tatan Syuflana)”

The image is at my site.

Can you please confirm if this is legit?

Thanks,

Matthew

Biography

2008-08-06T17:30:00.000-07:00

David McNew/Getty Images

Biography

Full Name: Barack Hussein Obama Jr.
Party: Democratic
Political Office: U.S. Senator from Illinois, elected 2004; member, Illinois State Senate 1997-2004
Business/Professional Experience: Attorney, law firm of Miner Barnhill & Galland (Chicago, IL), 1993-2004
Date of Birth: August 4, 1961
Place of Birth: Honolulu
Education: B.A. Columbia University 1983; J.D. Harvard Law, 1991
Spouse: married Michelle Robinson , 1992
Children: daughters Malia, born 1999, and Natasha, born 2001
Religion: United Church of Christ
Home: Chicago

Interactive Graphic

Milestones: Barack Obama

An interactive timeline of Barack Obama’s life and career.

Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Senator Barack Obama, now the prospective Democratic nominee, outside the Capitol on Wednesday. He told reporters that he and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton were “going to have a conversation in the coming weeks.”

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Michelle Obama

Born	January 17, 1964 (age 44) Chicago , Illinois(1964-01-17)
Residence	Chicago, Illinois
Nationality	American
Education	A.B. in sociology, cum laude; J.D.
Alma mater	Princeton University, Harvard Law School
Occupation	Vice President for Community and External Affairs at University of Chicago Hospitals
Religious beliefs	Christian
Spouse(s)	Barack Obama (m. 1992)
Children	Malia and Sasha
Parents	Frasier Robinson and Marian Robinson

Michelle Obama

2008-07-18T20:52:00.000-07:00

Michelle Obama

Born	January 17, 1964 (age 44) Chicago, Illinois(1964-01-17)
Residence	Chicago, Illinois
Nationality	American
Education	A.B. in sociology, cum laude; J.D.
Alma mater	Princeton University, Harvard Law School
Occupation	Vice President for Community and External Affairs at University of Chicago Hospitals
Religious beliefs	Christian
Spouse(s)	Barack Obama (m. 1992)
Children	Malia and Sasha
Parents	Frasier Robinson and Marian Robinson

Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama (born January 17, 1964)^[1] is an American lawyer and the wife of Illinois senator Barack Obama, the 2008 Democratic presumptive nominee for President. She was born and grew up on the South Side of Chicago and graduated from Princeton University Harvard Law School. After completing her formal education, she returned to Chicago and went to work for the law firm Sidley Austin, on the staff of the Mayor of Chicago Richard M. Daley, and for the University of Chicago and the University of Chicago Hospitals. She is the sister of Craig Robinson, men's basketball coach at Oregon State University. and

She met Barack when he came to work for Sidley Austin. The Obamas live on Chicago's South Side, choosing to remain there rather than moving to Washington, D.C.

Family and education

Michelle Robinson was born in Chicago, Illinois to Frasier Robinson (who died in 1990),a city water plant employee and Democratic precinct captain, and Marian Robinson, a secretary at Spiegel's catalog store. She grew up in the South Shore community area of Chicago,and was raised in a conventional two-parent home where the family convened around the dinner table nightly. She and her brother, Craig (who is 16 months older), skipped the second grade.revolutionary African Americans in the American South; much of her family still resides in the state of South Carolina Michelle graduated from Whitney Young High School in 1981 and went on to major in sociology and minor in African Americancum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in 1985.

Michelle mostly traces her roots to pre- studies at Princeton University, where she graduated

At Princeton, she challenged the teaching methodology for French because she felt that it should be more conversational.As part of her requirements for graduation, she wrote a thesis entitled, "Princeton-Educated Blacks and the Black Community."^[ Her brother Craig was the fourth leading scorer in Princeton University's men's basketball history, and is both a former Brown University's men's basketball coach and the current Oregon State Beavers men's basketball coach. She obtained her J.D. degree from Harvard Law School in 1988 While at Harvard, she participated in political demonstrations advocating the hiring of professors who are minorities

Barack and Michelle Obama

She met Barack Obama when they were the only two African Americans at their law firm and she was assigned to mentor him while he was a summer associate.^[14] Their relationship started with a business lunch and then a community organization meeting where he first impressed her.^[15] The couple's first date was to the Spike Lee movie Do the Right Thing.^[16] The couple married in October 1992,^[15] and they have two daughters, Malia Ann (born 1998) and Natasha (known as Sasha) (born 2001).^[17] Throughout her husband's 2008 campaign for President of the United States, she has made a "commitment to be away overnight only once a week — to campaign only two days a week and be home by the end of the second day" for their two children.^[18]

She once requested that Barack, who was then her fiancé, meet her prospective boss when considering her first career move.^[4] Now, she is her husband’s closest adviser.^[19]^[20] Early in the presidential race she did not portray herself as an adviser, however. In fact, she was quoted in interviews saying "My job is not a senior adviser."^[21] She is an honorary member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.^[22]

[edit] Career

Following law school, she was an associate at the Chicago office of the law firm Sidley Austin where she first met her husband. At the firm, she worked on marketing and intellectual property.^[2]public sector positions in the Chicago city government as an Assistant to the Mayor and Assistant Commissioner of Planning and Development. In 1993, she became Executive Director for the Chicago office of Public Allies, a non-profit organization encouraging young people to work on social issues in nonprofit groups and government agencies.^[7] Subsequently, she held

In 1996, Obama served as the Associate Dean of Student Services at the University of Chicago, where she developed the University's Community Service Center In 2002, she began working for the University of Chicago Hospitals, first as executive director for community affairs and, beginning May, 2005, as Vice President for Community and External Affairs. She still holds the position, though is working part time in order to devote more time to being a mother.

With the ascent of her husband as a prominent national politician, she has become a part of pop culture. In May 2006, Essence magazine listed her among "25 of the World's Most Inspiring Women.^] In July 2007, Vanity Fair magazine listed her among "10 of the World's Best Dressed People." In September 2007, 02138 magazine listed her 58th of "The Harvard 100," a list of the prior year's most influential Harvard alumni . Her husband was ranked fourth.

She served as a salaried board member of TreeHouse Foods, Inc. (NYSE: THS),^[28] a major Wal-Mart supplier with whom she cut ties immediately after her husband made comments critical of Wal-Mart at an AFL-CIO forum in Trenton, New Jersey, on May 14, 2007. She serves on the board of directors of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs

According to the couple’s 2006 income tax return, Michelle's salary was $273,618 from the University of Chicago Hospitals, while he had a salary of $157,082 from the United States Senate. The total Obama income, however, was $991,296 including $51,200 she earned as a member of the board of directors of TreeHouse Foods, plus investments and royalties from his books.(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Memoir of Obama

2008-07-18T20:39:00.000-07:00

The autobiographical narrative tells the story of the future Senator's life up to his entry in Harvard Law School. He was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, to Harvard University-educated economist Barack Hussein Obama, Sr., of Kenya, and Ann Dunham of Wichita, Kansas. At the time of Obama's birth, both his parents were students at the East-West Center of the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Obama's parents separated when he was two years old and divorced when he was four. Obama formed an image of his absent father from stories told by his mother and her parents.


Author	Barack Obama

Ann Dunham Obama then married Lolo Soetoro, an East-West Center student from Indonesia . The family moved to Jakarta . When Obama was ten, he returned to Hawaii under the care of his grandparents (and later his mother) for the better educational opportunities available in Hawaii. He was enrolled in the fifth grade at Punahou School, a private college-preparatory school. Obama was one of three Black students among the majority Asian-American population at that school.In an American school, Obama first became conscious of racism and what it means to be an African-American. At this point, his father came to visit him and his family; it was the last time that Obama would see him before his father's death in a car accident in 1982.

Upon finishing high school, Obama enrolled at Occidental College, where he describes living a "party" lifestyle of drug and alcohol use.He transferred to Columbia College at Columbia University, where he majored in political science. Upon graduation, he worked for a year in business. He then moved to Chicago, where he took up community organizing in the Altgeld Gardens housing project South Side. Obama recounts the difficulty of the experience, as his program faced resistance from entrenched community leaders and apathy on the part of the established bureaucracy. It was during his time spent here that Obama joined Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ. on the city's

In the book, Obama recalls a sermon by pastor Jeremiah Wright called "The Audacity to Hope," from which Obama would take the title of his second book. Obama quotes Wright, describing the world as one "where white folks’ greed runs a world in need, apartheid in one hemisphere, apathy in another hemisphere … That’s the world, On which hope sits!"

Before attending Harvard Law School , Obama decided to visit relatives in Kenya. He uses part of his experience there as the setting for the book's final, emotional scene.

As well as relating the story of Obama's life, the book includes a good deal of reflection on his own personal experiences with race and race relations in the United States.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreams_from_My_Father)

Dreams from My Father and The Audacity of Hope

2008-07-18T20:22:00.000-07:00

The Audacity of Hope

Obama's first book, Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, was published before his first run for political office. In it he recalls his childhood in Honolulu and Jakarta, college years in Los Angeles and New York City, and his employment as a community organizer in Chicago in the 1980s. The book's last few chapters describe his first visit to Kenya, a journey to connect with his Luo family and heritage. In the preface to the 2004 revised edition, Obama explains that he had hoped the story of his family "might speak in some way to the fissures of race that have characterized the American experience." In a 1995 review, novelist Paul Watkins wrote that Dreams "persuasively describes the phenomenon of belonging to two different worlds, and thus belonging to neither." The audiobook edition earned Obama the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album of 2006.

His second book, The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream, was published in October 2006 and soon rose to the top of The New York Times Best Seller hardcover list. Its title came from a sermon delivered by Obama's former pastor, Jeremiah Wright. The paperback edition currently ranks fourth on The New York Times nonfiction list.^[ The Chicago Tribune credits large crowds that gathered at book signings with influencing Obama's decision to run for president. Former U.S. presidential candidate Gary Hart said the book's self-portrayal presents "a man of relative youth yet maturity, a wise observer of the human condition, a figure who possesses perseverance and writing skills that have flashes of grandeur." Reviewer Michael Tomasky writes that it does not contain "boldly innovative policy prescriptions that will lead the Democrats out of their wilderness," but does show Obama's potential to "construct a new politics that is progressive but grounded in civic traditions that speak to a wider range of Americans."In February 2008, he won a Grammy award for the spoken word edition of Audacity. Foreign language editions of the book have been published in Italian, Spanish, German, French, Danish and Greek. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obama)

Perhaps The U.S. Should Burn This Bridge

2008-07-13T06:33:00.000-07:00

Author: Dan Bimrose

Article:
Many years ago, I read about a concept which stated that if you
are proposing a new business venture perhaps leaving your job
instead of holding onto it as long as possible has its
advantages. Doing this forces you to make a real effort to make
your new business work since you can not readily go back to your
job.

I actually believe that this concept does have some merit. It
forces you to focus on the task at hand and allows you to throw
100% of your efforts into your venture.

Perhaps we should look at utilizing this concept when attacking
our energy issues.

Barack Obama does not believe that we should drill for oil off
of the coast of Florida. Barack Obama does not believe we should
drill for oil in ANWR. Barack Obama does not believe we should
build new nuclear plants. In the face of what is going on
currently this would seem to be lunacy. I am currently an
undecided voter. Obama's stance on these issues definitely does
not make me lean towards voting for him.

Foregoing drilling for more oil or building our nuclear capacity
might be acceptable though if the United States were to be
unified in the one goal of becoming foreign oil independent.
Because quite frankly if we are not going to drill for more oil
we better figure something else out. We need to focus and we
need to have our industry experts putting forth 100% of their
time and energy into finding a workable solution to this problem.

I think there is a bit of misinformation about the length of
time it would take to retrieve oil from these sources. I keep
hearing ten years from the majority of the media outlets.
Legitimate experts in the field say we should start benefiting
from drilling in no less than three years. Of course if we do
manage to produce more oil we better start building new
refineries as well or any new drilling is pointless.

The point that Obama is trying to make, by using the ten year
figure, is that the benefits are too far off in the future to
make the effort. He would like us to believe that drilling for
oil now is futile and he may in fact have an argument.
Personally I think we should do anything and everything we can
right now for the future. Or else what is likely to happen is
that three years or ten years from now we are going to be asking
ourselves why we did not drill when the problem first became
apparent. In the end we will never be able to eliminate our need
for oil, yet we can eliminate our need for foreign oil.

That being said I would have much more faith in Obama's plan if
he came out with strong statements about his alternative energy
plan. Statements that detailed a plan that would eliminate our
need for foreign oil in ten years. Statements in which he uses
words such as "mandate", "required" and "imperative".

Obama does in fact have an alternative energy plan that he does
speak about often. He does propose alternative energy as the
only viable long term solution. What is missing is more urgency.
Every campaign speech, every interview should start out with him
promoting this plan. I do not want to hear this every other week
or once a week. I want to hear these assurances each and every
day. It should not be just an idea or part of his platform, it
should be the cornerstone of his campaign. US citizens must
believe that this is real and that this is going to happen.
Eliminating the need for foreign oil is necessary and should be
the first item on the new President's agenda. Our economy and
our standard of living depends upon this.

We need a President that will be uncompromising and unwavering
on this issue. We need a President that will force the necessary
bills through Congress in order to make this happen. If we are
not going to drill we need to set our country on a new path. We
need to do this yesterday.

This is imperative from our candidates because becoming oil
independent seems to be pretty far down on the current
President's agenda.

Change We Can Believe In | Happily Oblivious

2008-07-13T06:25:00.000-07:00

Author: Nick

Article:
Senator Barack Obama disappointed a number of his supporters
last week when he changed his position on the new FISA bill. He
had previously said that he would oppose any legislation which
granted the executive branch the power to wiretap American
electronic communications without getting approval from the FISA
court. The so-called compromise bill still granted
telecommunications companies who assisted in illegal wiretapping
immunity from prosecution. A great number of Obama supporters
expressed outrage at their candidate’s backflip on the issue.
So what happened to Obama’s message of “hope and change”?

Those who are familiar with the world of politics probably
aren’t too surprised to see such a change in a “change”
candidate. The truth of the matter is that power is corrupting.
While the junior senator from Illinois isn’t guaranteed to win
the White House in November, it seems likely that he will win.
It may sound cynical, but Obama seems less outraged at
unconstitutonal expansions of the president’s powers when he
is likely to enjoy those powers himself.

Even the politicians with the best intentions usually end up
sacrificing their principles in the name of compromise. Some
will say that the ability to compromise is a virtue in a
democratic society, but it is usually just an excuse for
political expediency. I am not completely convinced that Obama
has abandoned his principles, in this case, because his
expressed principles are so vague as to be nearly meaningless.
The fact that the campaign has focused on the need for
“change” has set the stage for this type of conflict with
its own supporters. Change is such a subjective term that each
individual can believe that when Obama talks about change, it is
the kind of change which that individual believes is necessary.
Obviously, this sets expectations which cannot be met.

This is not likely to be the last policy reversal on the part of
Obama. He has already begun to soften his rhetoric in regards to
the Iraq War because Iraq is no longer as big an issue with the
voters as it was at the beginning of the campaign. Like most
politicians, Barack Obama cares about securing votes and
advancing his own personal agenda. While many of his supporters
may not have fully realized this fact, many of them will quickly
wake up should Obama win the White House.

The problem is not limited to Obama. Most politicians in both
parties quickly break their campaign promises, often times
before ever taking office. Most notably, the Democrat-controlled
Congress has failed to either end the Iraq War or protect civil
liberties. It appears that House Democrats supported this FISA
bill as part of a deal with the Bush administration. The
administration agreed to support $95 billion worth of domestic
spending as part of the Iraq funding bill in exchange for our
Fourth Amendment rights.

Only the most naive individuals can really believe that Obama
and the Democrats will solve the problems brought upon the
country by the Republicans. They have already shown that they
are incapable of dismantling the police state apparatus once
they are the ones controlling it. Both parties are only
interested in new spending and programs which will cause even
more problems. The only real way to restore our civil liberties
is to move away from traditional partisan politics and return to
the Constitution.

About the author:
Nick is a freedom activist in New Hampshire. Feel free to
redistribute his articles, but please link back to
http://www.happilyoblivious.com/blog.

Barack Obama a real life hero

2008-07-12T02:08:00.000-07:00

Author: Jefferson Mesidor

Article:
Despite the impending outcome of the 2008 USA Presidential
election, Senator Barack Obama has given the world the most
precious intangible gift anyone could give and that is the gift
of hope.

To continue, in an era where hopelessness runs rapid, whether
you are Black, Latin, Caucasian, or from Asian, The Americans,
Europe, Africa, or anywhere else in between,Senator Barack Obama
has imparted a new sense of hope into people all over the world.

He has given everyone, regardless of class or income level the
ability to believe in themselves again, to remind them that they
are special, that good things can happen to them, that they can
transcend barriers and borders, and overcome obstacles and
adversity and fulfill their purpose and destiny.

Essentially, Hope gives a person the ability to fuel their
success. We must remember that success is nothing more than a
person's progressive forward movement in a lifelong mission or
journey, and hope is the fuel for this progressive journey.

The greatest leaders in history have been those who have been
able to impart this gift of hope into humanity. This was the
accomplishment of John F Kennedy, Winston Churchill and many
others like them. This new gift of hope will revolutionize the
world as we know it. All we have to do is look at the after
effects of those who have imparted this gift in other periods of
time throughout history, such as in the days of Martin Luther
King, and the ripple effects that his gift of hope had on
society after his death, and even into modern day times.

Today is a turning point in the world, a worldwide defining
moment. The leaders of tomorrow will begin to emerge as a result
of this gift that has been imparted into humanity. It is
possible that many years from now when we have reached an age of
equality we will look back and realize that Senator Barack
Obamas gift to the world was a major turning point for all of
mankind.

Humanity owes Senator Obama a debt of gratitude for this special
gift, and despite the outcome of the 2008 Presidential election,
Senator Barack Obama has already made a significant impact in
the world that will last for centuries, and this gift of hope is
what makes Senator Barack Obama a real hero and a champion to
everybody worldwide.

About the author:
A dynamic, excited and energetic individual, Mr. Jefferson
Mesidor is an accomplished entrepreneur, executive, and writer
with a desire to make a difference and a passion to change the
world around him.

As a charismatic and inspirational speaker, Mr. Mesidor aims to
evoke passion and drive into the audience that he is speaking to
with the purpose of uplifting them with his words.

Mr. Mesidor draws much of his inspiration from his life
experienc

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McCain-Obama vs. The US of A

2008-07-12T02:02:00.000-07:00

Author: Lidelyn Caballes

Article:
The United States of America if not being the most powerful
country in the world, is certainly one of the world's most
powerful and influential terrains that one can search on the
map. United States is not only a vast ground in technology and
advancements but is a huge territory of the world's most
powerful individuals as well. Name it, USA has it. United
States of America is more famous than one thinks it to be. It
has surmounted many battles and has defeated a lot of opponents.
United States of America is soon to conquer the world. It is not
only a home of grandiose machines, but is a national sanctuary
of the most powerful people on earth. A powerful state deserves
a powerful head master, a leader who can bring its nation and
people on top of the world. This makes the political arena of
the United States of America very controversial. Many has been
wanting to lead the band wagon, but only one has the privilege
to be labeled and called "The President of the United States of
America". Thus, presidential election is one of America's most
awaited phenomena. Citizens of the States of America had
already marked their calendars for the upcoming US Presidential
Election scheduled on the 4th day of November 2008. It would be
the 56th consecutive quadrennial US Presidential Election. The
names of the two hopeful-presidents had already been dropped.
John McCain, the senior United States Senator from Arizona, will
be representing the Republican Party. Barack Obama on the other
hand is for the Democratic Party who is the junior United States
Senator from Illinois. The two opposing candidates make the
upcoming presidential election remarkable since it is the first
time in the history of the United States of America to have two
sitting senators to run against each other to become the next US
President. Republican Party referred to as the Grand Old Party,
is one of the major contemporary political parties in USA that
was founded by anti-slavery activists and modernizers. As far as
American politics are concerned, this political party supports a
conservative platform this day, having economic liberalism,
fiscal conservatism, and social conservatism as its further
foundations. Republican Party encompasses about one third of the
electorate with 55 million registered members making it the
second largest political party. Another major political party
in USA is the Democratic Party that was founded by Thomas and
Madison and that originated from the Democratic-Republican
Party. This political party has said to be consistently
positioned itself to the left of the Republican Party in social
and economic matters. It was in 2004 that Democratic Party has
become the largest political party having 72 million voters.
Two major political parties supporting two different candidates.
Two different men having different backgrounds and experiences
combat for one position. In the upcoming US presidential
elections, there are many "two", but only one shall prevail.
There might be a lot of "two", but only one name, one citizen of
powerful USA shall be called President of the United States of
America.

About the author:
A content writer.

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The End of the American Dream

2008-07-12T01:58:00.000-07:00

Author: Elvis Preston King

Article:
Profits of Doom

George Soros and Elvis King tend to agree that 2008 is the
beginning of the twenty-first century's Great Depression.

Credit expansion seems to have been an outgrowth of the American
dream. It was supposed to mean everyone would be able to afford
a big house, a gas-guzzling car, a luxurious vacation. Does the
end of credit expansion mean the end of the American dream?

We haven't seen nothing yet! The US stock market crash his
headed our way. Like a Kansas tornado right out of the Wizard of
Ozz this is thing is taking out everything and everybody in its
path.

My Rolls Royce limo is in storage, I believe that I might get
killed flaunting wealth in the current misery of the state of
things in the Unites States of America. Not to mention she only
gets four miles to the gallon.

I'm very hopeful that Barack Obama will be able to provide that
leadership to steer us out of this crisis. Hilary Clinton would
have been a better choice with Bill Clinton at her side but the
American people have had the tendency to make some really bad
decisions for the past eight years and the only solution is to
pay the piper.

But one thing I cannot give up is my playboy lifestyle.

I am looking for a retired boomer who loves women and would
enjoy being my wingman. I am a senior playboy pushing 60 years
old. I won the International Playboy Playoffs competition in
2006 against much younger guys. If you are a retired single
boomer gentlemen forget your problems and this economy and join
me on my world tour of meeting hot young and beautiful women.
Check out my current girlfriends at
http://playboysover50.ning.com

.

About the author:

Elvis Preston King born in 1949 a boomer is the world's greatest
playboy from the sixties sexual revolution who is still active
today. Mr. Love, Elvis Preston King, my email
loverboybachelor@yahoo.com, my Miami telephone 786-245-5116, my
cell 809-720-3259, my Skype name elvisking69, my website
http://playboysover50.ning.com