Japi's Blog

Obama's First Presidential Campaign Commercial

Barack Obama released his first commercial for the Presidential Campaign.  It re-introduces Senator Obama to the public. 

I hope it opens people's eyes and hearts to the message of his campaign.... the minute-long spot shows the democratic nominee in an honest and calm demeanor.

Senator Obama's campaign also announced today that they would not use public funds for the Presidential run.  He is the first Presidential campaign to forgo these funds since the early '70s when this funding was established.

Obama's campaign has over 1.5 million individual donors and most of the donations are of less than $100.  By using only donated funds, Obama's campaign does not have spending limits. 

Maybe I'm naive or there's something I don't understand, but by not taking public money.. isn't this good?  Senator McCain is slamming Obama for this move... but the Republican 527 groups will be spending quite a lot of money to run negative ads - this move allows Obama to be able to match the money spent by these groups to be able to counter those ads.

It's going to be a very interesting campaign.

Hillary Finally Does It Right

After months of bitter Democratic primary battles... Hillary Clinton gave an great speech to put her support behind Barack Obama. 

I don't know if it's a good idea for Obama to put her on the ticket as the running mate... I think she can help bring more votes, but her campaign has been very different from Obama's and I don't believe she is an agent of change... she has a lot of old-time Washington politics baggage PLUS her husband. 

So I think it would be better to ask her to lead the healthcare reform for Obama or something along those lines.

But if she were placed on the ticket, I would still vote for Obama-Hillary.

Here's a short snippet of her speech this past Saturday:

Senator Obama's Quotes Taken Out of Context

I received an email from a family member with the following:

This guy wants to be our President and control our government. Pay close attention to the last comment!!  Below are a few lines from Obama's books ' his words:

1. From Dreams of My Father:  'I ceased to advertise my mother's race at the age of 12 or 13, when I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites.'
2. From Dreams of My Father :  'I found a solace in nursing a pervasive sense of grievance and animosity against my mothers race.'
3. From Dreams of My Father:  'There was something about him that made me wary, a little too sure of himself, maybe. And white.'
4. From Dreams of My Father:  ; 'It remained necessary to prove which side you were on, to show your loyalty to the black masses, to strike out and name names.'
5. From Dreams of My Father:  'I never emulate white men and brown men whose fates didn't speak to my own. It was into my father's image, the black man, son of Africa , that I'd packed all the attributes I sought in myself, the attributes of Martin and Malcolm, DuBois and Mandela.'
6. From Audacity of Hope:  'I will stand with the Muslims, should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.'

I was quite upset by it so I decided to research the context of each of these (since I HAVE read the books and my perception is that the family member who sent me this has not).  If they had read the books, I'm pretty certain they would not be sending these quotes taken out of context... it's pretty sad that there are so many people out there willing to take just a tidbit of information and make their minds up about someone without really delving into the truth. 

I think it's somewhat understandable because we have a finite amount of time to spend on certain things... but this particular presidential election is too important to just read the quotes.  I am not a Rhodes Scholar... but I've educated myself on the differences between the candidates... none of them are perfect, they all have good and bad ideas... but I believe Obama gives us the best option.... but that's obviously my opinion from what I've read.

Here are the 6 quotes mentioned above in more detail... you decide if they are accurate as stated above or if they make more sense (and you agree with them) when placed in the proper context.

1. The quotes of Dreams From My Father are all race-related...
   1. 'I ceased to advertise my mother's race at the age of 12 or 13, when I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites.'
   2. 'I found a solace in nursing a pervasive sense of grievance and animosity against my mothers race.'
   3. 'There was something about him that made me wary, a little too sure of himself, maybe. And white.'
   4. 'It remained necessary to prove which side you were on, to show your loyalty to the black masses, to strike out and name names.'
   5. 'I never emulate white men and brown men whose fates didn't speak to my own. It was into my father's image, the black man, son of Africa , that I'd packed all the attributes I sought in myself, the attributes of Martin and Malcolm, DuBois and Mandela.'
   • In the book Dreams of My Father, Senator Obama describes his teenage years as he struggled with his identity... as every single teenager has done throughout history.  The quote explains how he saw himself, as white or a black?
   • This is from a response on answers.yahoo.com:
     • The book is about how growing up Barack came to reconcile being of mixed heritage. "Dreams from my Father", pertains to that conflict in his youth, and how he came to resolve it. He writes about how he romanticized the life of his absent black father who he never knew and resented his mother, and how growing up changed his views on things
     • Read the book. Don't just find a few quotes that describe a conflict he felt at the age of 13 and pass it off as views he holds right now. He wrote the book to document how he came to reconcile the issue of race in his life
   • If you understand the concepts of the book, Dreams From My Father, you will see the process he went through to get to the point where he is now.
   • A better statement of his current views can be obtained from the speech he made in Philadelphia.  The description of the race issues in the U.S. that he gave in that speech are amazingly similar to mine and (I'm sure) most people.
2. The quote from "The Audacity of Hope" ( 'I will stand with the Muslims, should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.') is completely chopped... here's the full version from the book:
   • "Of course, not all my conversations in immigrant communities follow this easy pattern. In the wake of 9/11, my meetings with Arab and Pakistani Americans, for example, have a more urgent quality, for the stories of detentions and FBI questioning and hard stares from neighbors have shaken their sense of security and belonging. They have been reminded that the history of immigration in this country has a dark underbelly; they need specific reassurances that their citizenship really means something, that America has learned the right lessons from the Japanese internments during World War II, and that I will stand with them should the political winds shift in an ugly direction."

It's really sad that these quotes are either taken out of context or adjusted to fit the needs of the ultra-right to scare people into not voting for an amazing candidate.  If you really want to understand what Obama offers, read one or both books (with a truly open mind) and make up your mind aftewards.

I don't think Obama is perfect, he's far from it... as we ALL are.  But out of the candidates running for president, I believe he offers the best option... read Oabama's views on the REAL issues and compare them to McCain's views... TRULY INFORM YOURSELF! 

I believe Senator Obama can bring both sides together to move our country in a positive direction.  In my opinion, Hillary would give us a similar polarization (on the opposite end) as we have witnessed with Bush... and I believe McCain would continue the policies that the Bush administration has supported and that would be a big mistake.

Read the books and make an educated decision on who you think would be the best leader for the nation.... don't just read a few lines and believe their message without understanding the whole story.

Has the term "journalistic ethics" become an oxymoron?

Last night, ABC News hosted a debate between Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.  It has been a somewhat insane primary season with ugly politics being played at every turn.... and last night was one of the ugliest examples of it thus far.

I recorded the debate and began watching it at 9:30 PM or so... it was a 2 hour debate so I was pretty tired as it ended.  During the whole debate, I was not quite sure what was going on (I'm guessing it was due to being sleepy) - I just knew something wasn't quite right.

In every debate so far, Senator Obama has been poised and risen above the "politics as usual" attacks thrown his way.  Senator Clinton has had good and bad moments in the debates - personally, I have not been impressed by her performance in them.  She seems bitter and uses attack politics to try to make herself look better than her opponent.  I believe voters are smart enough to see through her and the results of the primaries are proof of that as Senator Obama has a commanding lead in delegates and popular vote.

Well, back to last night...I went to sleep not truly understanding what I had just witnessed.  This morning I received an email from an old time friend, Marcia, explaining exactly what had happened - Senator Obama had been railroaded!  My initial reaction was "naw, we're just being paranoid"... then I started reading and found out that YES, horrible multi-level political attacks had been leveled at Senator Obama... and here's a small sample of the public and media backlash:

1. The ABC News Web site has received over 18,000 comments regarding the debate and just looking at the first few pages, it's obvious that the public is outraged by the lack of professionalism and journalistic integrity shown last night by both George Stephanopoulus and Charlie Gibson.  People have posted numerous comments demanding they be fired and about once or twice per page, there's a comment complimenting the debate (some of these could have been planted by ABC News). Some of the more interesting comments include:
   • "I am very disappointed that it abc spent half of its precious national debate time on questions about lapel pins and guilt by association. As a high school social studies teacher trying to interest young people in the genuine policy issues faced by our republic, I am stunned that what used to be one of our top three television news organizations would ignore so many crucial issues in order to rehash personal topics that just make the American people more cynical. The debate was a disservice." - jcrider5344
   • "I can't believe I once took Charles Gibson to be a serious journalist. I actually believed that he could replace Peter Jennings. Was I wrong! Given that Hillary's husband was once George Stephanopoulos' boss, I didn't expect much from him. Nevertheless, I decided to watch the debate because of Charlie. Thanks, Charlie. You've lost a long-time fan." - vetforobama
   • "Gibson, Stephanopoulos...clearly hitmen. Ten million viewers watched as ABC News destroyed its reputation." - chyxct98
2. The blogs are blowing up with postings ripping ABC News, George and Charles:
   1. On AlterNet:
      1. ABC Blows It!
      2. Worst. Debate. Ever.
      3. Debate: ABC Decides Top Issues Facing Americans Are Flag Pins and '60s Radicals
   2. On The Huffington Post:
      1. ABC Debate: High Ratings, Critics Give Broadcast Poor Reviews
      2. Obama Criticizes Debate, Attacks Clinton For Being "In Her Element"
      3. David Brooks Praises ABC, Debate, Because He Lacks...
      4. The ABC Debate: A Shameful Night for the U.S. Media
   3. The Guardian in the UK:
      1. US network faces backlash after Democratic debate
      2. Debate moderators force Obama on defensive
   4. Editor & Publisher:
      1. Clinton-Obama Debate: ABC Hit on Focus on Minor Issues
   5. The Boston Globe:
      1. Gibson, Stephanopoulos criticized for work on debate
      2. Obama says debate focused on 'gotcha,' not policy issues
   6. Philly.com
      1. ABC gets an earful after debate
      2. Does Gibson Know The Constitution? (64 comments)
   7. In The Washington Post:
      1. In Pa. Debate, The Clear Loser Is ABC (over 200 comments)
      2. A Debate About the Future (hundreds of comments)
   8. Daily Kos:
      1. Let's Be Absolutely Clear About Last Night's Debate (501 comments)
      2. As a former ABC News employee, I have to say... (225 comments)

It's really sad to see how such a strong news network which has produced great journalists like Peter Jennings and Ted Koeppel has stooped this low.

The debate was held at Philadelphia's National Constitution Center which is beautiful, educational and represents the founding of our nation, and this makes the mess that ABC News called a debate even worse.

In my opinion, George Stephanopoulus should have said "I cannot participate in this debate since I could be biased."  But he (and ABC News) obviously did not care about journalism ethics - they attacked Senator Obama relentlessly and I am hopeful that the nation noticed the travesty - especially the voters of Pennsylvania and they show it in next week's primary!