Thoughts on Obama on Sunday Morning

Obama wants to reverse the well worn practice of corporate lobbying. It's the way things have been for so long. Can he change the this status quo of corruption so quickly. His plan may be too radically different than the current atmosphere in Washington DC. Walt Whitman once said we "lead by our presence." But will take more than a presidential presence to get rid of such a dirty system. He will have to get his hands dirty and may face death threats.

He says he will end dependence on foreign oil. How will he do that? American auto manufacturers will not change if they will lose tons of money.

Barack also wants to create more transparency. Does he mean more transparency in government, in the White House? Will he give us more war secrets? This is a little vague and he must explain. Maybe he will work to enforce public disclosure laws. That would be good.

He also wants to provide free radio and TV ads for candidates. The ultra conservative broadcasting lobbies(e.g. Rupert Murdoch) will not take that sitting down. Broadcasters will fight this.

I like that he would require all of his cabinet members to hold "fireside chats." I hope Barack would also hold regular town hall type meetings, much like Russ Feingold does as security precautions require. I also like that Barack is looking seriously at federal ethics legislation.

I agree with his views on health care, immigration and education too.

I continue to like many of his quotes like this one,

"Together we will create a nation healed, an America repaired, an America that believes again."


“Your own story and the American story are not
separate – they are shared. And they will both be
enriched if we stand up together, and answer a
new call to service to meet the challenges of our
new century. … I won’t just ask for your vote as
a candidate; I will ask for your service and your
active citizenship when I am president of the
United States. This will not be a call issued in
one speech or program; this will be a cause of
my presidency. ”



I also like that Obama would set up a Google type search engine that would track federal government spending, so anybody could follow the money trail from their home computer. Government would have to become more accountable.

Health care....No one would be turned away because of a pre-existing illness or condition. that sounds very positive. When talking health care, Obama also mentions that only about four cents out of every dollar goes to preventative health care. What will he do to trim the fat of all the insurance companies? It seems like the business is quite currupt. He will be swimming against the tide here I fear. The insurance industry has very powerful lobbiests.
I also like a couple of other ideas he proposes. He would require employers to contribute a certain percentage of money toward insurance plans. At a previous job, I was required to pay most of a policy that was not very good. Obama also would require health plans to disclose the percentage of premiums that go to patient care versus administrative costs. The results of such surveys may be shocking.


More quotes I found today from Brainyquotes.com
A good compromise, a good piece of legislation, is like a good sentence; or a good piece of music. Everybody can recognize it. They say, 'Huh. It works. It makes sense.' Barack Obama

Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Because it's only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential. Barack Obama

I don't oppose all wars. What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war. Barack Obama

I opposed the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996. It should be repealed and I will vote for its repeal on the Senate floor. I will also oppose any proposal to amend the U.S. Constitution to ban gays and lesbians from marrying. Barack Obama

If you're walking down the right path and you're willing to keep walking, eventually you'll make progress. Barack Obama

In the end, that's what this election is about. Do we participate in a politics of cynicism or a politics of hope? Barack Obama

It took a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get to where we are today, but we have just begun. Today we begin in earnest the work of making sure that the world we leave our children is just a little bit better than the one we inhabit today. Barack Obama


That is the true genius of America, a faith in the simple dreams of its people, the insistence on small miracles. That we can say what we think, write what we think, without hearing a sudden knock on the door. That we can have an idea and start our own business without paying a bribe or hiring somebody's son. That we can participate in the political process without fear of retribution, and that our votes will be counted -- or at least, most of the time.
BARACK OBAMA, speech at 2004 Democratic Convention

I have seen, the desperation and disorder of the powerless: how it twists the lives of children on the streets of Jakarta or Nairobi in much the same way as it does the lives of children on Chicago’s South Side, how narrow the path is for them between humiliation and untrammeled fury, how easily they slip into violence and despair. I know that the response of the powerful to this disorder -- alternating as it does between a dull complacency and, when the disorder spills out of its proscribed confines, a steady, unthinking application of force, of longer prison sentences and more sophisticated military hardware -- is inadequate to the task. I know that the hardening of lines, the embrace of fundamentalism and tribe, dooms us all.
BARACK OBAMA, preface to 2004 Edition, Dreams of My Father

[The] issues are never simple. One thing I’m proud of is that very rarely will you hear me simplify the issues.
BARACK OBAMA, MSNBC interview, Sep 25, 2006


The true test of the American ideal is whether we’re able to recognize our failings and then rise together to meet the challenges of our time. Whether we allow ourselves to be shaped by events and history, or whether we act to shape them. Whether chance of birth or circumstance decides life’s big winners and losers, or whether we build a community where, at the very least, everyone has a chance to work hard, get ahead, and reach their dreams.
BARACK OBAMA, speech, Jun. 4, 2005

Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.
BARACK OBAMA, speech, Feb. 5, 2008

I was drawn to the power of the African American religious tradition to spur social change. Out of necessity, the black church had to minister to the whole person. Out of necessity, the black church rarely had the luxury of separating individual salvation from collective salvation. It had to serve as the center of the community's political, economic, and social as well as spiritual life; it understood in an intimate way the biblical call to feed the hungry and clothe the naked and challenge powers and principalities. In the history of these struggles, I was able to see faith as more than just a comfort to the weary or a hedge against death; rather, it was an active, palpable agent in the world.
BARACK OBAMA, Audacity of Hope

This notion that's peddled by the religious right - that they are oppressed is not true. Sometimes it's a cynical ploy to move their agenda ahead. The classic example being that somehow secularists are trying to eliminate Christmas, which strikes me as some kind of manufactured controversy.
BARACK OBAMA, Street Prophets interview, Jul. 11, 2006

What Washington needs is adult supervision.
BARACK OBAMA, fundraising letter, Oct. 2006

In an interconnected world, the defeat of international terrorism – and most importantly, the prevention of these terrorist organizations from obtaining weapons of mass destruction -- will require the cooperation of many nations. We must always reserve the right to strike unilaterally at terrorists wherever they may exist. But we should know that our success in doing so is enhanced by engaging our allies so that we receive the crucial diplomatic, military, intelligence, and financial support that can lighten our load and add legitimacy to our actions. This means talking to our friends and, at times, even our enemies.
BARACK OBAMA, speech, Nov. 20, 2006
All across the world, in every kind of environment and region known to man, increasingly dangerous weather patterns and devastating storms are abruptly putting an end to the long-running debate over whether or not climate change is real. Not only is it real, it's here, and its effects are giving rise to a frighteningly new global phenomenon: the man-made natural disaster.
BARACK OBAMA, speech, Apr. 3, 2006

There are a whole lot of religious people in America, including the majority of Democrats. When we abandon the field of religious discourse—when we ignore the debate about what it means to be a good Christian or Muslim or Jew; when we discuss religion only in the negative sense of where or how it should not be practiced, rather than in the positive sense of what it tells us about our obligations toward one another; when we shy away from religious venues and religious broadcasts because we assume that we will be unwelcome—others will fill the vacuum. And those who do are likely to be those with the most insular views of faith, or who cynically use religion to justify partisan ends.
BARACK OBAMA, Audacity of Hope

If the people cannot trust their government to do the job for which it exists - to protect them and to promote their common welfare - all else is lost.
BARACK OBAMA, speech, Aug. 28, 2006

Americans ... still believe in an America where anything's possible -- they just don't think their leaders do.
BARACK OBAMA, fundraising letter, Sep. 1, 2006

America is a land of big dreamers and big hopes. It is this hope that has sustained us through revolution and civil war, depression and world war, a struggle for civil and social rights and the brink of nuclear crisis. And it is because our dreamers dreamed that we have emerged from each challenge more united, more prosperous, and more admired than before.
BARACK OBAMA, speech, Jun. 4, 2005

We should be more modest in our belief that we can impose democracy on a country through military force. In the past, it has been movements for freedom from within tyrannical regimes that have led to flourishing democracies; movements that continue today. This doesn’t mean abandoning our values and ideals; wherever we can, it’s in our interest to help foster democracy through the diplomatic and economic resources at our disposal. But even as we provide such help, we should be clear that the institutions of democracy – free markets, a free press, a strong civil society – cannot be built overnight, and they cannot be built at the end of a barrel of a gun. And so we must realize that the freedoms FDR once spoke of – especially freedom from want and freedom from fear – do not just come from deposing a tyrant and handing out ballots; they are only realized once the personal and material security of a people is ensured as well.
BARACK OBAMA, speech, Nov. 20, 2006

We live in a culture that discourages empathy. A culture that too often tells us our principle goal in life is to be rich, thin, young, famous, safe, and entertained.
BARACK OBAMA, speech, Jul. 12, 2006

Secularists are wrong when they ask believers to leave their religion at the door before entering into the public square. Frederick Douglas, Abraham Lincoln, Williams Jennings Bryant, Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King - indeed, the majority of great reformers in American history - were not only motivated by faith, but repeatedly used religious language to argue for their cause. So to say that men and women should not inject their "personal morality" into public policy debates is a practical absurdity. Our law is by definition a codification of morality, much of it grounded in the Judeo-Christian tradition.
BARACK OBAMA, Jun. 28, 2006

I always believe that ultimately, if people are paying attention, then we get good government and good leadership. And when we get lazy, as a democracy and civically start taking shortcuts, then it results in bad government and politics.
BARACK OBAMA, MSNBC interview, Sep. 25, 2006


That's my Sunday morning thoughts on Obama. I'm going to get some more coffee. Have a good weekend :) Wish me luck on singing in church today. I will sing "I Can Only Imagine" and will have to use my imagination to see what others are seeing.

Love and Peace :)