"The president rode our coattails." - Mr. Burress, veteran Christian conservative organizer.
"...Gay-baiting was a real winner for the Bushies; it gave them Ohio. But now Bush has become the Republicans' Vietnam. ...and, yes, I'm proud to be a John F. Kennedy, say it loud and proud, liberal. But the man I'm watching right now is senator-elect James Webb." - Taylor Marsh
"The guiding principle and
prayer of this nation has been, is now, and ever shall be 'In God We Trust.'" President John F. Kennedy
"In an interview after the UNC speech,
Edwards finally utters the words he'd assiduously avoided during the last
campaign: "I
voted for the resolution," he says. "It was a mistake."
So far, so good. But he goes on, "The hard question is, What do you do
now? Looking back, it's easy to say that it was wrong and based on false information.
Anybody who doesn't admit that isn't honest, and that's the truth." So
what now? "I myself feel conflicted about it," Edwards replies.
"But we have to find ways--and I don't mean just yanking all the troops
tomorrow--but we have to find ways to start bringing our troops home. Our
presence there is clearly contributing to the problem." So does he agree
with Senator Russ Feingold that Washington should set a withdrawal deadline?
"No. Even if we're going to say that internally, that we're gonna have
our troops out by X date, there's no reason to announce that to the world.
I think that's probably a mistake." He doesn't agree, either,
with Senator Clinton's call for more US troops to finish the job? "No
sir!" Edwards says, sitting straight up in his chair. "Did she really
say that?" (source: "John
Edwards Comes Clean")
BARACK OBAMA... "In 1967, Republican Edward Brooke of Massachusetts became the first black American elected to the modern Senate. Moderate and generally well-liked, he nevertheless was rarely regarded as a prime mover. Brooke served until 1978, when he was defeated after a messy divorce trial. The second black senator of modern times was Carol Moseley-Braun, a lawyer elected from Illinois in 1992. She lost her bid for re-election after she was overwhelmed by a scandal involving financial shenanigans by her former fiance and campaign manager. ... In the Senate, he doesn't intend to be a 'spokesman for the race,' but, given his interests, he will undoubtedly end up advocating for issues of particular concern to black Americans, he said. "There has been no discussion of an urban agenda in this (presidential) campaign at all -- nothing about affordable housing, jobs for youth, the growing crisis of AIDS (news - web sites). I intend to work on those issues.' A Harvard-educated attorney, Obama has made it clear that he doesn't intend to spend his first term sitting quietly and soaking up the wisdom of veterans. He plans to serve on powerful committees and influence policy. In addition to domestic issues, he intends to be influential in formulating foreign policy, especially in the Middle East. He's likely to get what he wants. He has traveled to assist the election prospects of other Democrats, including Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold (news, bio, voting record) and Colorado Senate candidate Ken Salazar. He has also given generously to Democratic candidates from his campaign war chest. That assures Obama will arrive with some stature. Obama could be a first -- a black U.S. senator who wields real clout."
This ever-widening divide is too often ignored or downplayed by its beneficiaries. A sense of entitlement has set in among elites, bordering on hubris. When I raised this issue with corporate leaders during the recent political campaign, I was met repeatedly with denials, and, from some, an overt lack of concern for those who are falling behind. A troubling arrogance is in the air among the nation's most fortunate. Some shrug off large-scale economic and social dislocations as the inevitable byproducts of the "rough road of capitalism." Others claim that it's the fault of the worker or the public education system, that the average American is simply not up to the international challenge, that our education system fails us, or that our workers have become spoiled by old notions of corporate paternalism.
Still others have gone so far as to argue that these divisions are the natural results of a competitive society. Furthermore, an unspoken insinuation seems to be inundating our national debate: Certain immigrant groups have the "right genetics" and thus are natural entrants to the "overclass," while others, as well as those who come from stock that has been here for 200 years and have not made it to the top, simply don't possess the necessary attributes.
Most Americans reject such notions. But the true challenge is for everyone to understand that the current economic divisions in society are harmful to our future. It should be the first order of business for the new Congress to begin addressing these divisions, and to work to bring true fairness back to economic life. Workers already understand this, as they see stagnant wages and disappearing jobs.
America's elites need to understand this reality in terms of their own self-interest. A recent survey in the Economist warned that globalization was affecting the U.S. differently than other "First World" nations, and that white-collar jobs were in as much danger as the blue-collar positions which have thus far been ravaged by outsourcing and illegal immigration. That survey then warned that "unless a solution is found to sluggish real wages and rising inequality, there is a serious risk of a protectionist backlash" in America that would take us away from what they view to be the "biggest economic stimulus in world history."
More troubling is this: If it remains unchecked, this bifurcation of opportunities and advantages along class lines has the potential to bring a period of political unrest. Up to now, most American workers have simply been worried about their job prospects. Once they understand that there are (and were) clear alternatives to the policies that have dislocated careers and altered futures, they will demand more accountability from the leaders who have failed to protect their interests. The "Wal-Marting" of cheap consumer products brought in from places like China, and the easy money from low-interest home mortgage refinancing, have softened the blows in recent years. But the balance point is tipping in both cases, away from the consumer and away from our national interest.
Class Struggle - American workers have a chance to be heard, by senator-elect James Webb
"The question most Americans want answered about Iraq is this: When will our troops come home? We already know the likely answer. In 2006, they will begin to leave in large numbers. By the end of the year, we will have redeployed about 50,000. In 2007, a significant number of the remaining 100,000 will follow. A small force will stay behind -- in Iraq or across the border -- to strike at any concentration of terrorists. That is because we cannot sustain 150,000 Americans in Iraq without extending deployment times, sending soldiers on fourth and fifth tours, or mobilizing the National Guard. Even if we could, our large military presence -- while still the only guarantor against a total breakdown -- is increasingly counterproductive. A liberation has become an occupation. ..." Time for An Iraq Timetable, 11.26.05
"The Democrats' point man on national security." - Chris Wallace, Fox News Sunday (2.26.06), introducing Senator Joe Biden.
"... Shortly after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Clark said, he visited the Pentagon, where an old colleague, a three-star general, confided to him that the civilian authorities running the Pentagon—Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his team—planned to use the September 11th attacks as a pretext for going to war against Iraq. “They made the decision to attack Iraq sometime soon after 9/11,” Clark said. “So, rather than searching for a solution to a problem, they had the solution, and their difficulty was to make it appear as though it were in response to a problem.” Clark visited the Pentagon a couple of months later, and the same general told him that the Bush team, unable or unwilling to fight the actual terrorists responsible for the attacks, had devised a five-year plan to topple the regimes in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Iran, and Sudan. If the basic elements of the story have a familiar ring, it is because Clark’s central contention—that the Bush Administration used September 11th as a pretext to attack Saddam—has been part of the public debate, much discussed in many publications and broadcasts, since well before the Iraq war. It is rooted in the advocacy of an organization called Project for the New American Century, a neoconservative think tank, whose influential circle—including Rumsfeld, his deputy Paul Wolfowitz, and the defense adviser Richard Perle—had been openly arguing for regime change in Iraq, by military force, if necessary, since 1998." (source: "General Clark's Battles, The New Yorker)
This nation needs a leader with vision, experience and passion. Americans
of every political persuasion are tired of the neglect, greed, cronyism, corruption,
and gross incompetence of the current administration. Our next President faces
the daunting task of putting the country back on track on many domestic and
international fronts.
Our nation's economy, which stands at the brink of financial bankruptcy,
requires significant course-correction to return to the strong and robust
state that you helped build during your tenure as Vice-President. Special
interest-driven policies of the current administration imperil the environment;
your extensive knowledge and lifelong commitment are sorely needed in crafting
forward-thinking, sustainable, and balanced environmental policies. The provisions
of our social safety net originally designed to offer a helping hand to the
neediest among us were severely undermined during the long winter of Republican
Congressional domination, and they await revitalization.
On the international front, the unwarranted, ill-advised, and ill-waged war
in Iraq (that you firmly opposed in unequivocal terms from the beginning)
continues to burn financial resources, diminish our international credibility
and, most important, take the lives of Americans, their allies and countless
Iraqi citizens. And yet the outcome remains uncertain. Our next President
faces the task of resolving the Iraq quagmire and mending our weakened international
relationships.
Mr. Gore, as a man of stature, intelligence, experience, visionary leadership,
and deep, well-deserved respect at home and abroad, you are uniquely qualified
to meet and master the many challenges facing the next leader of the United
States of America.
The idea of your candidacy appeals to a broad cross-section of the electorate,
and promises to energize scores of progressive grassroots volunteers who will
stand with you every step of the way.
We ask you to take on the mantle of leadership, and accept the myriad calls
for you to seek the Presidency of the United States.
Thank You.
"Al Gore helped airlift some 270 Katrina evacuees on two private charters from New Orleans, acting at the urging of a doctor who saved the life of the former vice president's son." (source: "Al Gore airlifts Katrina victims out of New Orleans," 9.9.05)
GORE: I Don't Plan to Run for President... "I don't completely rule out some future interest, but I don't expect to have that," Gore said.
"I am Al Gore. I used to be
the next president of the United States of America. (laughter)
I don't consider that particularly funny." Al Gore speech, 10.5.05 (Full text at Al Gore 2008)
