Isn’t it amazing
The Obama Campaign & Movement 
A World Apart
Posted 9/20/2007 2:15 PM
Fifty years ago today my universe was beginning to open at the speed of sound. I had survived the seldom easy transition from childhood to the first step on the stairs to adulthood. I had made it to the 8th grade. And I was virtually dizzy with the array of outward bound paths that had suddenly surrounded me. And everyone had a “yellow brick road” quality. Where would this one lead? What about this one; or this one? Who cared about that. The excitement was caused by the fact that they all pointed toward a way out.

Not that I had anything to run from…except for the ties that bind. Heck, even that lucky son-of-a-gun, Ricky Nelson was beginning to exhibit a wanderlous quality. And, he had it all. The looks, the girls, the big brother, two adoring (although admittedly over-bearing) parents. If Ricky could peek at the horizon, then, by golly, so could I.

I attended “neighborhood school”; I had always attended such schools as did all my friends. My friends were the entire student body. And, the best part, new freedoms were being granted like so much confetti at a new years eve celebration.

Not that there were no dark clouds on the horizon. Although our school was totally desegregated (roughly, 1/3rd white; 1/3 black and 1/3rd asian) it was simply a reflection of the affordability of the houses there. If you were a WW II veteran, and who wasn’t, you could and did buy your family a home of their own. A first for just about everyone.

Given this context for my take on the world, I was bewildered by what I saw on TV about what was going  on across the states in the south. Separate but equal was an oxymoron to my way of thinking. How could separate be equal. Why was one color poor and the other color less poor. (Truth be told, that all looked considerably poorer than anyone I knew.)

Then, 50 years ago today, the Little Rock travesty was recorded and shown to the Nation. Dogs, powerful waterhoses, a lynching mentality were used by one color against the other color. The horrors of the civil war were being re-enacted for each of us to see. I was shaken to my core and nauseated in my heart. Why, why, why? My yellow brick roads were much less appealing then.
 

Monday, September 24, 2007
Shoot for the Stars

With only 6 days left before the third fund raising reports are due, the Obama Campaign is posed to once again make history. We are well with-in reach of having 350,000 individual contributors who together will make 500,000 contributions. Oh, we will have raised millions and millions of $ but that is not the story. The story is about 350,000 individual citizens like us who have been so moved by the message of Hope and Change of the Obama campaign that they are, most for the first time ever, are contributing their own money to a poltical campaign. In small amounts of $10 and $25 they are speaking not so much from their pocketbooks as from their hearts. They want to once again have their country act in a way that they can be proud to say, I am an American. They believe, and want their country and their fellow citizens to once again believe in equal chance to be all that you can be. To have fairness and equal justice regardless of your race, gender or sexual orientation. They want a country that is eager to join hands, roll of their sleeves and together find solutions to our common problems. These Americans like ourselves understand that no one person can do it alone. But 350,000 can become 3 million and 3 million can become 30 million and more. And when that happens, anything is possible; even miracles. YES WE CAN…YES WE CAN…YES WE CAN

Posted by Paul Servelle at 12:11 PM 0 comments 

  Isn’t it amazing
The Obama Campaign & Movement 

Lobbyists continue to extend influence
Posted 9/20/2007 11:41 AM

Okay be honest, you expect this to be about you know who. Well, not today sweet heart. No this is not about the darling of MSM pundits, Ms. HRC (don’t be too disappointed after all she is getting a lot of ink, air-time and blog time about her embracing lobbyists as a useful partner in a democracy). In, dare I say it, another local paper, I found this quote: “Those who have the ears of decision makers have an advantage over those who don’t.”

This bit of wisdom comes from Moreno Valley City Councilwoman, Bonnie Flickinger. She was quoted in a story titled, More cities turning to lobbyists by Dan Lee in today’s The Press-Enterprise. Other inland cities identified as employing Wash. DC registered lobbyist, include Hemet, Moreno Valley, San Jacinto and Temecula. I wonder about Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, Indian Wells and other Coachella Valley cities.

I guess this is defended in the same way we did as children when our parents caught us doing something we should not be doing. The old canard, “Well, geez, everybody else is doing it.” Remember our parent’s end of conversation  response? “That doesn’t make it right and that doesn’t make it okay.”

Just because HRC and desert cities use registered lobbyists doesn’t make it right, and it doesn’t make it okay.
 

  Isn’t it amazing
The Obama Campaign & Movement

Struck A Chord
Posted 9/20/2007 9:15 AM

Yesterday’s post titled, Not A Problem, really hit home. The post addressed the malaise that our country is in due in no small measure to the seeming iinability of our two major parties to actually govern. The Washington grid-lock has the whole country stuck in traffic. So, here we sit in our unpaid for SUVs burning up $3/gal fuel wondering what the heck is going on. The over freeway road condition signs are telling us that traffic is stalled; duh. On our car radios, NPR is explaining how we went to war in Iraq over oil. The news junkies among us (me an acute case) have heard all this many, many times before. To rescue us from our own boredum, we push the seldom used AM button on our radios. Thank God for Rush; he is so dependable at riling us up. “ditto-head from palm springs; thanks for taking my call Rush”; now this I can get into. Want to guess today’s topic? Too easy, right. “the lefties behind the Gen. Betray Us over at Move On are traitors and should be arrested and immediately deported to the mountains of Pakistan”. This is the level of public debate found everywhere we look. But as noted yesterday, there is one presidential candidate that is trying to raise the level of public debate. There is one candidate for President who does not want to represent only one political party but  instead wants to represent all Americans. One candidate who does not want to only represent one political ideology but instead wants to lead by concensus for all Americans. One candidate who wants to work with us, the people of  this democracy, to seek out our common ground and to attack our problems with a United States of America. That candidate is Barack Obama. For information on the Obama Express, contact me at: [email protected]. Have a great Saturday and peace be with you.
 

(Outreach from presidential campaigns is a good idea for everyone involved. One of these days I might even find myself a candidate to support. (format edit only) – promoted by Lucas O’Connor)

Greetings from the CA. Barack Obama Campaign.

Let me begin by introducing myself. I am the volunteer coordinator for the Obama campaign in this the 45th congressional district. I was chosen for this role in the campaign because I have contributed 1,000 hours of volunteer time since the Senator’s announcement of his candidacy on February 10, 2007 and also because I have lived with my family in Palm Springs for more than 10 years.

The Obama campaign is a grassroots effort with ordinary citizens, like myself, playing key roles in the campaign. Just like the thousands of other volunteers for Obama, I have made this commitment of time and energy to the campaign because I believe that Obama will bring the fundamental changes that are so desperately needed in our country.

Don’t put much heed in the national popularity polls. When the Obama campaign began less than eight months ago, it was “Obama Who?” Then, the first quarter fundraising results were released and Obama Who had raised more money available for the primaries than anyone, including the so-called front runner. The pundits and cynics were not impressed; just wait until the novelty faded they predicted. Three months later the second quarter fundraising numbers were revealed. Obama had an even bigger margin in new contributions than before. Again he raised more than the front runner. But something else started to be noticed. The money raised by Obama had not come from lobbyists. It was mostly in small amounts; $5, $10 and $25. In fact, an unheard of 250,000 individuals had given to the campaign. In a week and a half, the third quarter results will reveal that again the amount contributed and the number of individual contributors to the Obama campaign will open an even wider lead for the Obama campaign.

Two very significant implications flow from these advantages. First, the campaign will be fully funded not only in the earliest contests but also for all of the contests on Super Tuesday; and that includes not only CA but right here in the 45th CD. Never before has a national campaign committed to full funding of a campaign here in the 45th. Second, the Obama campaign is positioned to put more people on the ground in every contest than any of the other candidates and that includes the front runner. And, as you know well, on the ground volunteers will out compete paid workers every time. And, no one, I repeat, no one has as many and as committed volunteers in each state, in each congressional district, in each precinct than does Barack Obama.

The 45th CD Volunteers for Obama will soon be rolling out an interactive web site. I hope you will check it out. Until then, I can be reached at: [email protected]. The Obama Express invites you to come aboard and be part of history in the making. Peace be with you.

I would never have gotten to this diary post w/out Brian; so thank or blame him. Same goes for Beth for head’s up on this perfect site.
Of course, neither are responsible for what appears here.
(In support of transparency in politics: I am the authorized point person for the CA Obama Campaign in the 45th CD.)
Today, as I have for the past eight months or so, I start my day on the commuter. I try not to look at who is saying what, why and where. I want to first see what I have to say. Recently, a  funny thing has begun to happen almost daily. As I begin my  hunt and peck method of typing, I am surprised by where my trembling right hand (due to Parkinson’s) actually I only type with the third finger on the right hand and second finger on the left are taking me.
Today is a perfect example. I started “Change is in the air…” (see actual post below); after posting I decided to see what this guy at the Wash Post (Cris something) was up to because it had been awhile (3 wks or so) since I ha d visited his blog. Of course, he was going on about the Obama spot that was being rolled out today; of course titled “Change that you can believe in”. Just a coincidence, right?
Then an email from my sister in Carson City working on the caucus thing but for Dennis and she was gushing (which she nevers does) about the new Obama ad in Iowa; she had never seen anything so powerful and how it needed to go nationwide. Just a coincidence, right?
Stay tuned.
Here are a couple of items.
First I did this post,
  Isn’t it amazing
The Obama Campaign & Movement 
Change that we can believe in
Posted 9/20/2007 10:06 AM
The Barack Obama Campaign today rolled out it’s latest TV spot. Titled, Change that we can believe in, the spot has Barack, alone, talking directly to one camera. No quick cuts, no frills, and no gimmicks. The message is clean and straight forward; no double speak; no parsing. Pure Obama on change that we can believe in. Go to www.BarackObama.com if you would like to have your spirits lifted; mine sure were.
after I had posted this one,
  Isn’t it amazing
The Obama Campaign & Movement 
Change is definitely in the air
Posted 9/20/2007 9:17 AM
And, I am not talking about the weather. No surprise here; I’m talking area politics. The “reds” are on the run and the “blues” are strutting their stuff. Some “reds” are thinking about sailing off the Florida Keys, while others are taking to wearing “blue jeans and blue baseball hats”.
The “strutters” on the other hand are in full throttle “look at me” mode.
Don’t you just love it!
And, I’m thinking, Isn’t it amazing
To see Obama spot, click here http://www.youtube.c…