TFMs Please Read and Keep Your Mouths Shut

Remarks of Senator Barack Obama

VFW National Convention

August 19, 2008

Thank you, Commander Lisicki, for your leadership. Let me also acknowledge the leadership of Virginia Carman, the president of the VFW ladies auxiliary, as well as my friend Jim Webb who will be speaking here later today. Finally, let me thank all of the members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States of America for inviting me back to this convention. It is a privilege to be among so many who have given so much for our country.

I stand before you today at a defining moment in our history. We are in the midst of two wars. The terrorists who attacked us on 9/11 are still at large. Russia has invaded the sovereign nation of Georgia. Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons. The next Commander-in-Chief is going to have to exercise the best possible judgment in getting us through these difficult times.

Yesterday, Senator McCain came before you. He is a man who has served this nation honorably, and he correctly stated that one of the chief criteria for the American people in this election is going to be who can exercise the best judgment as Commander in Chief. But instead of just offering policy answers, he turned to a typical laundry list of political attacks. He said that I have changed my position on Iraq when I have not. He said that I am for a path of “retreat and failure.” And he declared, “Behind all of these claims and positions by Senator Obama lies the ambition to be president” – suggesting, as he has so many times, that I put personal ambition before my country.

That is John McCain’s prerogative. He can run that kind of campaign, and – frankly – that’s how political campaigns have been run in recent years. But I believe the American people are better than that. I believe that this defining moment demands something more of us.

If we think that we can secure our country by just talking tough without acting tough and smart, then we will misunderstand this moment and miss its opportunities. If we think that we can use the same partisan playbook where we just challenge our opponent’s patriotism to win an election, then the American people will lose. The times are too serious for this kind of politics. The calamity left behind by the last eight years is too great. So let me begin by offering my judgment about what we’ve done, where we are, and where we need to go.

Six years ago, I stood up at a time when it was politically difficult to oppose going to war in Iraq, and argued that our first priority had to be finishing the fight against Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Senator McCain was already turning his sights to Iraq just days after 9/11, and he became a leading supporter of an invasion and occupation of a country that had absolutely nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks, and that – as despicable as Saddam Hussein was – posed no imminent threat to the American people. Two of the biggest beneficiaries of that decision were al Qaeda’s leadership, which no longer faced the pressure of America’s focused attention; and Iran, which has advanced its nuclear program, continued its support for terror, and increased its influence in Iraq and the region.

In the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, I warned that war would fan the flames of extremism in the Middle East, create new centers of terrorism, and tie us down in a costly and open-ended occupation. Senator McCain predicted that we’d be greeted as liberators, and that the Iraqis would bear the cost of rebuilding through their bountiful oil revenues. For the good of our country, I wish he had been right, and I had been wrong. But that’s not what history shows.

Senator McCain now argues that despite these costly strategic errors, his judgment has been vindicated due to the results of the surge. Let me once again praise General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker – they are outstanding Americans. In Iraq, gains have been made in lowering the level of violence thanks to the outstanding efforts of our military, the increasing capability of Iraq’s Security Forces, the ceasefire of Shiite militias, and the decision taken by Sunni tribes to take the fight to al Qaeda. Those are the facts, and all Americans welcome them.

But understand what the essential argument was about. Before the surge, I argued that the long-term solution in Iraq is political – the Iraqi government must reconcile its differences and take responsibility for its future. That holds true today. We have lost over a thousand American lives and spent hundreds of billions of dollars since the surge began, but Iraq’s leaders still haven’t made hard compromises or substantial investments in rebuilding their country. Our military is badly overstretched – a fact that has surely been noted in capitals around the world. And while we pay a heavy price in Iraq – and Americans pay record prices at the pump – Iraq’s government is sitting on a $79 billion dollar budget surplus from windfall oil profits.

Let’s be clear: our troops have completed every mission they’ve been given. They have created the space for political reconciliation. Now it must be filled by an Iraqi government that reconciles its differences and spends its oil profits to meet the needs of its people. Iraqi inaction threatens the progress we’ve made and creates an opening for Iran and the “special groups” it supports. It’s time to press the Iraqis to take responsibility for their future. The best way to do that is a responsible redeployment of our combat brigades, carried out in close consultation with commanders on the ground. We can safely redeploy at a pace that removes our combat brigades in 16 months. That would be well into 2010 – seven years after the war began. After this redeployment, we’ll keep a residual force to target remnants of al Qaeda; to protect our service members and diplomats; and to train Iraq's Security Forces if the Iraqis make political progress.

Iraq’s democratically-elected Prime Minister has embraced this timeframe. Now it’s time to succeed in Iraq by turning Iraq over to its sovereign government. We should not keep sending our troops to fight tour after tour of duty while our military is overstretched. We should not keep spending $10 billion a month in Iraq while Americans struggle in a sluggish economy. Ending the war will allow us to invest in America, to strengthen our military, and to finish the fight against al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan and the border region of Pakistan.

This is the central front in the war on terrorism. This is where the Taliban is gaining strength and launching new attacks, including one that just took the life of ten French soldiers. This is where Osama bin Laden and the same terrorists who killed nearly 3,000 Americans on our own soil are hiding and plotting seven years after 9/11. This is a war that we have to win. And as Commander-in-Chief, I will have no greater priority than taking out these terrorists who threaten America, and finishing the job against the Taliban.

For years, I have called for more resources and more troops to finish the fight in Afghanistan. With his overwhelming focus on Iraq, Senator McCain argued that we could just “muddle through” in Afghanistan, and only came around to supporting my call for more troops last month. Now, we need a policy of “more for more” – more from America and our NATO allies, and more from the Afghan government. That's why I've called for at least two additional U.S. combat brigades and an additional $1 billion in non-military assistance for Afghanistan, with a demand for more action from the Afghan government to take on corruption and counternarcotics, and to improve the lives of the Afghan people.

We must also recognize that we cannot succeed in Afghanistan or secure America as long as there is a terrorist safe-haven in northwest Pakistan. A year ago, I said that we must take action against bin Laden and his lieutenants if we have them in our sights and Pakistan cannot or will not act. Senator McCain criticized me and claimed that I was for “bombing our ally.” So for all of his talk about following Osama bin Laden to the Gates of Hell, Senator McCain refused to join my call to take out bin Laden across the Afghan border. Instead, he spent years backing a dictator in Pakistan who failed to serve the interests of his own people.

I argued for years that we need to move from a “Musharraf policy” to a “Pakistan policy.” We must move beyond an alliance built on mere convenience or a relationship with one man. Now, with President Musharraf’s resignation, we have the opportunity to do just that. That’s why I’ve cosponsored a bill to triple non-military aid to the Pakistani people, while ensuring that the military assistance we do provide is used to take the fight to the Taliban and al Qaeda in the tribal regions of Pakistan.

Today, our attention is also on the Republic of Georgia, and Senator McCain and I both strongly support the people of Georgia and the Americans delivering humanitarian aid. There is no possible justification for Russia’s actions. Russian troops have yet to begin the withdrawal required by the cease-fire signed by their president, and we are hearing reports of Russian atrocities: burning wheat fields, brutal killing, and the destruction of Georgia’s infrastructure and military assets.

This crisis underscores the need for engaged U.S. leadership in the world. We failed to head off this conflict and lost leverage in our ability to contain it because our leaders have been distracted, our resources overstretched, and our alliances frayed. American leadership means getting engaged earlier to shape events so that we’re not merely responding to them. That’s why I’m committed to renewing our leadership and rebuilding our alliances as President of the United States.

For months, I have called for active international engagement to resolve the disputes over South Ossetia and Abkhazia. I made it crystal clear before, at the beginning of, and during this conflict that Georgia’s territorial integrity must be respected, and that Georgia should be integrated into transatlantic institutions. I have condemned Russian aggression, and today I reiterate my demand that Russia abide by the cease-fire. Russia must know that its actions will have consequences. They will imperil the Civil Nuclear Agreement, and Russia’s standing in the international community – including the NATO-Russia Council, and Russia’s desire to participate in organizations like the WTO and the OECD. Finally, we must help Georgia rebuild what has been destroyed. That is why I’m proud to join my friend, Senator Joe Biden, in calling for an additional $1 billion in reconstruction assistance for the people of Georgia.

These are the judgments I’ve made and the policies that we have to debate, because we do have differences in this election. But one of the things that we have to change in this country is the idea that people can’t disagree without challenging each other’s character and patriotism. I have never suggested that Senator McCain picks his positions on national security based on politics or personal ambition. I have not suggested it because I believe that he genuinely wants to serve America’s national interest. Now, it’s time for him to acknowledge that I want to do the same.

Let me be clear: I will let no one question my love of this country. I love America, so do you, and so does John McCain. When I look out at this audience, I see people of different political views. You are Democrats and Republicans and Independents. But you all served together, and fought together, and bled together under the same proud flag. You did not serve a Red America or a Blue America – you served the United States of America.

So let’s have a serious debate, and let’s debate our disagreements on the merits of policy – not personal attacks. And no matter how heated it gets or what kind of campaign he chooses to run, I will honor Senator McCain’s service, just like I honor the service of every veteran in this room, and every American who has worn the uniform of the United States.

One of those Americans was my grandfather, Stanley Dunham.

My father left when I was 2, so my grandfather was the man who helped raise me. He grew up in El Dorado, Kansas – a town too small to warrant boldface on a road map. He worked on oil rigs and drifted from town to town during the Depression. Then he met my grandmother and enlisted after Pearl Harbor. He would go on to march across Europe in Patton’s Army, while my great uncle fought with the 89th Infantry Division to liberate Buchenwald, my grandmother worked on a bomber assembly line, and my mother was born at Fort Leavenworth. After my grandfather left the Army, he went to college on the GI Bill, bought his home with help from the Federal Housing Authority, and he and my grandmother moved west in a restless pursuit of their dreams.

They were among the men and women of our Greatest Generation. They came from ordinary places, and went on to do extraordinary things. They survived a Depression and faced down fascism. And when the guns fell silent, America stood by them, because they had a government that didn’t just ask them to win a war – it helped them to live their dreams in peace, and to become the backbone of the largest middle class that the world has ever known. In the five years after World War II, the GI Bill helped 15 million veterans get an education. Two million went to college. Millions more learned a trade in factories or on farms. Four million veterans received help in buying a home, leading to the biggest home construction boom in our history.

And these veterans didn’t just receive a hand from Washington – they did their part to lift up America, just as they’d done their duty in defending it. They became teachers and doctors, cops and firefighters who were the foundation of our communities. They became the innovators and small business owners who helped drive the American economy. They became the scientists and engineers who helped us win the space race against the Soviets. They won a Cold War, and left a legacy to their children and grandchildren who reached new horizons of opportunity.

I am a part of that legacy. Without it, I would not be standing on this stage today. And as President, I will do everything that I can to keep the promise, to advance the American Dream for all our veterans, and to enlist them in the cause of building a stronger America.

Our young men and women in uniform have proven that they are the equal of the Greatest Generation on the battlefield. Now, we must ensure that our brave troops serving abroad today become the backbone of our middle class at home tomorrow. Those who fight to defend America abroad must have the chance to live their dreams at home – through education and their ability to make a good living; through affordable health care; and through a retirement that is dignified and secure. That is the promise that we must keep with all who serve.

It starts with those who choose to remain in uniform, as well as their families. My wife Michelle has net with military families in North Carolina, Kentucky and Virginia over the last several months. Every time, she passes on their stories – stories of lives filled with patriotism and purpose, but also stories of spouses struggling to pay the bills, kids dealing with an absent parent, and the unique burden of multiple deployments. The message that Michelle has heard is what you all know and have lived: when a loved one is deployed, the whole family goes to war.

The VFW has done an extraordinary job of standing by our military families – helping out with everything from a phone card for a soldier who is overseas, to an extra hand around the house. As President, I will stand with you. We need a Military Families Advisory Board to identify new ways to ease the burden. We need more official support for the volunteer networks that help military spouses get by. And we need to make sure that military pay does not lag behind the private sector, so that those who serve can raise their families and live the life they’ve earned.

For those who return to civilian life, I will support their American Dream in this 21st century just as we supported generations of veterans in the 20th. That starts with education. Everyone who serves this country should have the same opportunity that my grandfather had under the GI Bill. That’s why, unlike my opponent, I was a strong and early supporter of Jim Webb’s GI Bill for the 21st Century – a bill that Senator McCain called too generous. At a time when the skyrocketing cost of tuition is pricing thousands of Americans out of a college education, this bill provides every veteran with a real chance to afford a world-class college education. And that’s what I’ll continue to stand up for as President.

We must also stand up for affordable health care for every single veteran. That's why I've pledged to build a 21st century VA. We need to cut through the red tape – every service-member should get electronic copies of medical and service records upon discharge. We need to close shortfalls – it’s time to fully fund VA health care, and to add more Vet Centers. We need to get rid of means-testing - every veteran should be allowed into the VA system. My opponent takes a different view. He wants to ration care so the VA only serves combat injuries, while everyone else gets an insurance card. While the VA needs some real reform to better serve those who have worn the uniform, privatization is just not the answer. We cannot risk our veterans’ health care by turning the VA into just another health insurer. We need to make sure the VA is strong enough to treat every veteran who depends on it. That’s what I’ll do as President.

And we must expand and enhance our ability to identify and treat PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injury at all levels: from enlistment, to deployment, to civilian life. No one should suffer in silence, or slip through the cracks in the system. That's why I've passed measures to increase screening for these unseen wounds, and helped lead a bipartisan effort to stop the unfair practice of kicking out troops who suffer from them. This is something I’ve fought for in the Senate, and it’s something that I’ll make a priority as President.

Economic security for our veterans also depends on revamping an overburdened benefits system. I congratulate the VFW for what you’ve done to help veterans navigate a broken VBA bureaucracy. Now it’s time for the government to do a better job. We need more workers, and a 21st century electronic system that is fully linked up to military records and the VA’s health network. It’s time to ensure that those who’ve served get the benefits that they’ve earned.

Just as we give veterans the support they deserve, we must also engage them and all Americans in a new cause: renewing America. I am running for President because I believe that there is no challenge too great for the American people to meet if they are called upon to come together. In America, each of us is free to seek our dreams, but we must also serve a common purpose, a higher purpose. No one embodies that commitment like a veteran.

Just think of the skills that our troops have developed through their service. They have not simply waged war in Afghanistan and Iraq – they have rebuilt infrastructure, supported new agriculture, trained police forces, and developed health care systems. For those leaving military service, it’s time to apply those skills to our great national challenges here at home.

That means expanding programs like Troops-to-Teachers that put veterans at the front of the classroom. That means tapping the talent of engineers who’ve served as we make a substantial investment to rebuild our infrastructure and create millions of new jobs. That means dramatically expanding national service programs to give Americans of all ages, skills and stations the chance to give back to their communities and their country. I’ll also enlist veterans in forging a new American energy economy. That’s why I’ve proposed a Green Veterans initiative to give our veterans the training they need to succeed in the Green Jobs of the future – so that they put themselves on a pathway to a successful career, while ensuring that our national security is never held hostage to hostile nations.

This is how we can help our veterans live their dreams while helping our country meet the challenges of the 21st century. And this is what we have learned from so many generations of veterans, including those of you here today – that your contribution to the American story does not end when the uniform comes off. We need those who serve in our military to live their dreams – and to continue serving the cause of America – when the guns fall silent. That’s what the VFW stands for, and if I have the honor of being your President, that’s what my Administration will work for every single day. Because I believe that we have a sacred trust with those who serve in our military. That trust is simple: America will be there for you just as you have been there for America. It’s a trust that begins at enlistment, and it never ends.

I thought of that trust last week when I visited the Pearl Harbor Memorial. I saw where the bombs fell on the USS Arizona, and where a war began that would reshape the world order while reshaping the lives of all who served in it – from our great generals and admirals, to the enlisted men like my grandfather. Then I visited his grave at the Punchbowl, the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

I still remember the day that we laid my grandfather to rest. In a cemetery lined with the graves of Americans who have sacrificed for our country, we heard the solemn notes of Taps and the crack of guns fired in salute; we watched as a folded flag was handed to my grandmother and my grandfather was laid to rest. It was a nation's final act of service and gratitude to Stanley Dunham - an America that stood by my grandfather when he took off the uniform, and never left his side.

This is what we owe our troops and our veterans. Because in every note of Taps and in every folded flag, we hear and see an unwavering belief in the idea of America. The idea that no matter where you come from, or what you look like, or who your parents are, this is a place where anything is possible; where anyone can make it; where we look out for each other, and take care of each other; where we rise and fall as one nation - as one people. It's an idea that's worth fighting for - an idea for which so many Americans have given that last full measure of devotion. Now it falls to us to advance that idea just as so many generations have before.

Hooray for God and Flag

After The Saturday night audience at the Saddleback Church made me puke with their war-whoops, no doubt brought on by their adoration of the Prince of Peace, I was glad to see the following debunk, namely Adele Stan writing in the Huffington Post today:

"At the megachurch known as Saddleback, Barack Obama and John McCain last night fielded questions from the popular right-leaning pastor, Rick Warren. The candidates were presented in serial one-on-one Q-and-A sessions (transcript) with the evangelical preacher, addressing topics ranging from leadership to human rights for fetuses to the nature of evil. That last topic was asked this way of each of the candidates:

"WARREN: How about the issue of evil? I asked this of your rival, in the previous debate. Does evil exist and, if so, should we ignore it, negotiate with it, contain it or defeat it?

"Now, imagine this was the year 2000, just a few days after the South Carolina primary, in which John McCain was defeated in no small measure by the efforts of televangelist Pat Robertson and the Baptist bloviator, Jerry Falwell.

"The answer might have gone like this:

McCAIN: Defeat it. A couple of points. One, if I'm president of the United States, my friends, if I have to follow him to the gates of hell, I will get Pat Robertson and his agents of intolerance. No one, no one should exert the evil influence on the Republican Party that he and that blowhard Falwell have had.

"Of course, evil must be defeated. My friends, we are facing the transcendent challenge of the 21st century -- radical Christian extremism.

"The very fact that McCain sat across a table from the affable Warren shows that he learned his lesson from his 2000 primary defeat, which was clinched when, during one of those legendary sessions with reporters on the Straight Talk Express, McCain decried the 'evil influence' the Revs. Robertson and Falwell, whom he really did call 'agents of intolerance,' had visited upon his party. He also compared the two religious-right figures to the Rev. Al Sharpton and the Nation of Islam's Minister Louis Farakkhan. Within days, he apologized for his use of the word 'evil,' calling it a joke. But no one bought that explanation -- neither the righties nor the reporters who covered McCain so breathlessly during that hot minute he played the insurgent challenger to George W. Bush.

"And so, the McCain of 2008, if not a model Christian soldier, is eager to win the support of people he, not so long ago, disparaged. His rapprochement with the religious right began two years ago, when he patched things up with Falwell (who has since died), and agreed to speak to the 2007 graduating class of Falwell's Liberty University.

"If McCain's efforts to woo the religious right seem a bit tone deaf (as in his promise to follow Osama bin Laden to 'the gates of Hell') and disingenuous, last night's audience at Saddleback didn't seem to mind, enthusiastically applauding McCain's promise to defeat evil, even after politely applauding Obama's thoughtful plea to remain humble in the battle against evil, reminding his Christian audience that the eradication of evil is God's task, and that too often humans have perpetrated new evils in the name of eradicating evil.

"Here's McCain's actual answer to the question about evil:

WARREN: How about the issue of evil? I asked this of your rival, in the previous debate. Does evil exist and, if so, should ignore it, negotiate it with it, contain it or defeat it?


McCAIN: Defeat it. (APPLAUSE). A couple of points. One, if I'm president of the United States, my friends, if I have to follow him to the gates of hell, I will get bin Laden and bring him to justice. I will do that. And I know how to do that. I will get that done. (WILD APPLAUSE, WHOOPING). No one, no one should be allowed to take thousands of American -- innocent American lives.

Of course, evil must be defeated. My friends, we are facing the transcendent challenge of the 21st century -- radical Islamic extremism.

Not long ago in Baghdad, al Qaeda took two young women who were mentally disabled, and put suicide vests on them, sent them into a marketplace and, by remote control, detonated those suicide vests. If that isn't evil, you have to tell me what is. And we're going to defeat this evil. And the central battleground according to David Petraeus and Osama bin Laden is the battle, is Baghdad, Mosul, Basra and Iraq and we are winning and succeeding and our troops will come home with honor and with victory and not in defeat. And that's what's happening.

And we have -- and we face this threat throughout the world. It's not just in Iraq. It's not just in Afghanistan. Our intelligence people tell us al Qaeda continues to try to establish cells here in the United States of America. My friends, we must face this challenge. We can face this challenge. And we must totally defeat it, and we're in a long struggle. But when I'm around, the young men and women who are serving this nation in uniform, I have no doubt, none.

"Here's how the question was asked of Obama in the first segment of the forum, how the candidate answered:

WARREN: OK, we've got one last time -- I've got a bunch more, but let me ask you one about evil. Does evil exist? And if it does, do we ignore it? Do we negotiate with it? Do we contain it? Do we defeat it?

OBAMA: Evil does exist. I mean, I think we see evil all the time. We see evil in Darfur. We see evil, sadly, on the streets of our cities. We see evil in parents who viciously abuse their children. I think it has to be confronted. It has to be confronted squarely, and one of the things that I strongly believe is that, now, we are not going to, as individuals, be able to erase evil from the world. That is God's task, but we can be soldiers in that process, and we can confront it when we see it.

Now, the one thing that I think is very important is for to us have some humility in how we approach the issue of confronting evil, because a lot of evil's been perpetrated based on the claim that we were trying to confront evil.

WARREN: In the name of good.

OBAMA: In the name of good, and I think, you know, one thing that's very important is having some humility in recognizing that just because we think that our intentions are good, doesn't always mean that we're going to be doing good.

Obama's is clearly the theologically superior answer but, lacking the bloodletting promised by McCain, it failed to move this very holy crowd.

"When I saw Obama take on each of Warren's questions thoughtfully, for the most part, and direct his gaze at his questioner as if the two were in conversation, I thought he had done magnificently. I thought he had aced the test.

"The audience seemed to like him. They even liked his stance against torture, it seemed. Then McCain came on and stole the show with his resolute, angry old warrior schtick and Vietnam torture stories, and this audience seemed to just love being played by a guy who desperately needs the religious right's get-out-the-vote machinery engaged on his behalf. (For the record, I really do admire McCain's decision to stay with his comrades in the Hanoi Hilton when he could have gone home, but that won't do much for me when he's adding another Alito or Roberts to the court, which he all but promised last night to do.)

"It's said by people smarter than me that all Obama has to do in a room like Warren's made-for-TV sanctuary is to survive, be not scary, and earn respect. If that's true, he surely did that last night, and among some of the younger evangelicals, he may actually win a vote or two. But with Warren's claim to a kinder, gentler biblical imperative than is found by elders such as Robertson's, it was profoundly disheartening to see an almost knee-jerk response in favor of unbridled, war-mongering jingoism, advanced by a guy who probably doesn't even like them (i.e. this congregation).

Alternative to Barack Obama

My friends ... watch this.

And While I'm At It

Please watch the video, "Dick Move of the Week," on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, which proves conclusively what a pathetically lame candidate John McCain truly is:

http://www.thedailyshow.com/

Response that Barack Might Make to McCain's Attack Ads

Like it or not, I am embroiled in defending my candidate for President. And although it appears that I am not likely to convince the only person who responded to my post just before this one, perhaps there are others who might listen to reason. (And it would help my morale if even one of them would comment.)

Drew Westen wrote in the Huffington Post today, and I pass on to my readers Drew's suggested response that Obama might make to the slime that McCain has recently approved for TV attacks on Obama.


"Senator McCain, I don't presume to know what's in your heart.

I don't presume to know why you were in the minority even in your party in voting against the Martin Luther King holiday;

any more than I presume to know what you were thinking when you and President Bush were eating birthday cake at your home in Arizona when people were hanging from the rooftops--not just black people--in New Orleans during Katrina.

I don't presume to know what was in your heart when you suddenly reversed course this week from supporting affirmative action programs aimed at giving people who are willing to work hard a hand up and not a handout --

to suddenly supporting a ballot initiative in your home state that would set the clock back 40 years --

when you had previously described those ballot initiatives as thinly veiled efforts to divide American against American.


"But I'll tell you what I do know. Your party has used race to try to divide us in every election since 1968.

You have personally attacked my patriotism, and you're not going to do it again.

You've spoken to me in patronizing ways that frankly a man of your limited knowledge of the issues that confront the American people--who can't even keep straight who the warring factions are in the Middle East, which is supposedly your strong suit --

and who is so out of touch on the economy that his first response to the mortgage crisis was to blame it on the victims of unscrupulous lenders--has no business doing --

and you will not speak to me that way again.

You and your wife have attacked my character and the character of my wife, and I suggest you not try that again, because that is a road you do not want to go down.

I have always assumed that you were a man of honor, but frankly, your relentlessly negative attacks on me and your indifference to the truth is starting to make a lot of Americans wonder.

For a man who said he wanted to run an honorable campaign, how many weeks and how many phone calls from Karl Rove did it take you to find the low road?

"My comments were intended simply to warn the American people not to be taken in by efforts to paint me as different, as outside the mainstream, as not like them, as not sharing their values, because they are attempts to divide Americans in a way that is un-American.

No more, no less.

Do I think you or your Republican allies will use my race to try to drive that point home? It's already been done.

Did Fox News ever refer to your wife as your "Baby Mama?"

And what exactly did your surrogate, Terry Hill, mean last week when he described me on national television as "more politician than he is American"?

"Senator, I believe we are one nation, under God, indivisible, and I will do everything in my power as president, and in this campaign, to keep it that way. I suggest you aspire to the same standard. That's what I believe it means to be an American."

RACE CARD! RACE CARD! Roll Over, Johnny C.

As a supporter of Barack Obama, I know I'm supposed to keep a low profile on this, because the political commentators have told us it would be impolitic to do otherwise, but some of you may have observed that (hush, hush, come over here on Camera 3, shhh) he's (black). (Don't tell anybody!) (He's white too, but our curious system on this continent for the past four hundred years is that if you're "one percent black" (who isn't?), you're black for purposes of -- well, discrimination. You know, taxicabs, housing, jobs, being elected for public office, just the little things, you know.)

What I wanted to say is that our candidate is a pioneer and he will have to thread his way through this discrimination, distrust, prejudice, superstition, slander, and libel in order to get to the prize, which is to be America's first African-American president. And he will have to excel, just as Jackie Robinson had to excel as the first black major league baseball player, as Sidney Poitier had to excel as the first black motion picture actor in leading roles, as Jack Kennedy had to excel as the first Roman Catholic president, and as little Miss Ruby Bridges had to excel when, at six years of age, she integrated the New Orleans elementary school in 1960.

I'm confident that Barack will continue to excel and he's gonna get there.

As for having another mediocre president -- worse than mediocre looks like it right now, if fear and hatred triumph over hope and faith this November -- God please spare us from that. Amen.

Oater Character Millard Mitchell

Not having anything better to do, one day I wrote this for Internet Movie Data Base. The Naked Spur, a Jimmy Stewart/Anthony Mann movie is on this afternoon on TCM. Mann/Stewart Westerns are better than average. This one was filmed around Durango, Colorado. Besides Jimmy and Millard, the movie has Janet Leigh, the always excellent Robert Ryan, and Ralph Meeker. Some of you might be amused by my biography of Mr. Mitchell; if not, perhaps by the movie. At least the scenery and photography really kick fanny.

Viva New Yorker!

I thought the cover of the New Yorker was hilarious!

I'll bet Barack and Michelle did too.

Better yet, Rosie dreamed that Barack appointed Michelle to the Supreme Court. Then he dusted off his hands and said, "That'll fix 'em."

There will be mud!

PFC Vonnegut, 1945 -- Whence Slaughterhouse Five

The following is a letter dated May 29, 1945, published in the new book "Armageddon in Retrospect," a collection of writings on war and peace by the late author.

PFC. K. VONNEGUT, JR. 12102964 U.S. ARMY
TO: Kurt Vonnegut, Williams Creek Indianapolis, Indiana

Dear People:
I'm told that you were probably never informed that I was anything other than "missing in action." Chances are that you also failed to receive any of the letters I wrote from Germany. That leaves me a lot of explaining to do—in précis:

I've been a prisoner of war since December 19th, 1944, when our division was cut to ribbons by Hitler's last desperate thrust though Luxembourg and Belgium. Seven Fanatical Panzer Divisions hit us and cut us off from the rest of Hodges' First Army. The other American Divisions on our flanks managed to pull out: We were obliged to stay and fight. Bayonets aren't much good against tanks: Our ammunition, food and medical supplies gave out and our casualties out-numbered those who could still fight—so we gave up. The 106th got a Presidential Citation and some British Decoration from Montgomery for it, I'm told, but I'll be damned if it was worth it. I was one of the few who weren't wounded. For that much thank God.

Well, the supermen marched us, without food, water or sleep to Limberg, a distance of about sixty miles, I think, where we were loaded and locked up, sixty men to each small, unventilated, unheated box car. There were no sanitary accommodations—the floors were covered with cow dung. There wasn't room for all of us to lie down. Half slept while the other half stood. We spent several days, including Christmas, on that Limberg siding. On Christmas eve the Royal Air Force bombed and strafed our unmarked train. They killed about one-hundred-and-fifty of us. We got a little water Christmas Day and moved slowly across Germany to a large P.O.W. Camp in Muhlburg, South of Berlin. We were released from the box cars on New Year's Day. The Germans herded us through scalding delousing showers. Many men died from shock in the showers after ten days of starvation, thirst and exposure. But I didn't.

Under the Geneva Convention, Officers and Non-commissioned Officers are not obliged to work when taken prisoner. I am, as you know, a Private. One-hundred-and-fifty such minor beings were shipped to a Dresden work camp on January 10th. I was their leader by virtue of the little German I spoke. It was our misfortune to have sadistic and fanatical guards. We were refused medical attention and clothing: We were given long hours at extremely hard labor. Our food ration was two-hundred-and-fifty grams of black bread and one pint of unseasoned potato soup each day. After desperately trying to improve our situation for two months and having been met with bland smiles I told the guards just what I was going to do to them when the Russians came. They beat me up a little. I was fired as group leader. Beatings were very small time—one boy starved to death and the SS Troops shot two for stealing food.

On about February 14th the Americans came over, followed by the R.A.F. Their combined labors killed 250,000 people in twenty-four hours and destroyed all of Dresden—possibly the world's most beautiful city. But not me.

After that we were put to work carrying corpses from Air-Raid shelters; women, children, old men; dead from concussion, fire or suffocation. Civilians cursed us and threw rocks as we carried bodies to huge funeral pyres in the city.

When General Patton took Leipzig we were evacuated on foot to Hellexisdorf on the Saxony-Czechoslovakian border. There we remained until the war ended. Our guards deserted us. On that happy day the Russians were intent on mopping up isolated outlaw resistance in our sector. Their planes (P39's) strafed and bombed us, killing fourteen. But not me.

Eight of us stole a team and wagon. We traveled and looted our way through Sudetendland and Saxony for eight days, living like kings. The Russians are crazy about Americans. The Russians picked us up in Dresden. We rode from there to the American lines at Halle in Land-Lease Ford trucks. We've since flown to the Le Havre.

I'm writing from a Red Cross Club in Le Havre P.O.W. Repatriation Camp. I'm being wonderfully well fed and entertained. The state-bound ships [are] jammed, naturally, so I'll have to be patient. I hope I'm home in a month. Once home I'll be given twenty-one days recuperation at Atterbury, about $600 back pay and—get this—sixty days (60) furlough!

I've too damned much to say, the rest will have to wait. I can't receive mail here so don't write. May 29, 1945

Love, Kurt – Jr.

Best Damn Column Yet, Mo

I quote liberally from "Phony Myths" as follows:

"Karl Rove was impressed with Barack Obama when he first met him. But now he sees him as a 'coolly arrogant' elitist.

"This was Rove’s take on Obama to Republicans at the Capitol Hill Club Monday, according to Christianne Klein of ABC News:

"'Even if you never met him, you know this guy. He’s the guy at the country club with the beautiful date, holding a martini and a cigarette that stands against the wall and makes snide comments about everyone who passes by.'

"Actually, that sounds more like W. [EDITOR'S NOTE: Indeed it does. Especially in the howler, "...and a cigarette that stands against the wall..." If Turd Blossom had said, "and a cigarette, while standing against the wall..." Sounds like Our Tinpot Dictator's murder of English, among of course the least of his 4,000 + crimes of murder, is rubbing off on TB. But Editor digresses. Let Mo continue.]

"The cheap populism is really rich coming from Karl Rove. When was the last time he kicked back with a corncob pipe to watch professional wrestling?

"Rove is trying to spin his myths, as he used to do with such devastating effect, but it won’t work this time. The absurd spectacle of rich white conservatives trying to paint Obama as a watercress sandwich with the crust cut off seems ugly and fake.

"Obama can be aloof and dismissive at times, and he’s certainly self-regarding, carrying the aura of the Ivy faculty club. But isn’t that better than the aura of the country clubs that tried to keep out blacks? It’s ironic, and maybe inevitable, that the first African-American nominee comes across as a prince of privilege. He is, as Leon Wieseltier of The New Republic wrote, not the seed but the flower of the civil rights movement.

"Unlike W., Obama doesn’t have a chip on his shoulder and he doesn’t make a lot of snarky remarks. He tries to stay on a positive keel and see things from the other person’s point of view.

"He’s not Richie Rich, saved time and again by Daddy’s influence and Daddy’s friends, the one who got waved into Yale and Harvard and cushy business deals, who drank too much and snickered at the intellectuals and gave them snide nicknames.

"Obama is the outsider who never really knew his dad and who grew up in modest circumstances, the kid who had to work hard to charm whites and build a life with blacks and step up to the smarty-pants set.

"He might be smoking, but it would be at a cafe, hunched over a New York Times, an Atlantic magazine, his MacBook and some organic fruit-flavored tea, listening to Bob Dylan’s 'Blood on the Tracks' on his iPod.

"Rove was doing a variation on the old William Buckley line: 'I would rather be governed by the first 2,000 names in the Boston telephone book than by the 2,000 members of the Harvard faculty.'

"Conservatives love playing this little game, acting as if the 'elite' Democratic candidates are not in touch with people like themselves, even though the guys doing the attacking — like Rove, Limbaugh, O’Reilly and Hannity — are wealthy and cosseted.

"Haven’t we had enough of this hypocritical comedy of people in the elite disowning their social status for political purposes? The Bushes had to move all the way to Texas from Greenwich to make their blue blood appear more red.

"Everyone who ever became president was in the elite one way or another, including Andrew Jackson.

"Rove and Co. are nervous because they see that Obama, in rejecting public financing, is not going to be a chump, like some past Democratic candidates.

"For some of Obama’s critics, it’s a breathtaking bit of fungible principles, as though Gandhi suddenly donned a Dolce & Gabbana, or Dolce & Mahatma, loincloth.

"But even as the Republicans limn him as John Kerry, as someone who is too haughty and too 'foreign,' Obama is determined not to repeat what Kerry thinks was a big mistake: not having enough money to compete against the Republicans in 2004.

"Charlie Black crassly argued in Fortune that a terrorist attack would 'be a big advantage' for John McCain. And what’s scary is, Black is the smartest adviser McCain’s got.

"It’s hard to believe that if Americans get attacked after all these years of getting strip-searched at the airport, they’re going to be filled with confidence at the performance of the Republicans on national security. And at least Obama wants to catch Osama and doesn’t think he’s getting his directions on war from 'a higher Father.'

"Rove’s mythmaking about Obama won’t fly. If he means that Obama has brains, what’s wrong with that? If he means that Obama is successful, what’s wrong with that? If he means that Obama has education and intellectual sophistication, what’s wrong with that?

"Many of Obama’s traits are the traits that people in the population aspire to.

"It looks as if Rove is on the verge of realizing his dream of creating a permanent position for the Republicans.

"Unfortunately for him, it’s in the minority."

[Editor e-mailed her as follows: "Mo, I'm in love with you! Great column! At last!"]

Update

Although I haven't done anything so noble with my "economic stimulus" check as this lady, I certainly liked the idea.

Note that to my blog I have added the link to the new "Fight the Smears" page at the Obama site, a kind of countermeasure to dirty campaigning -- simply direct rebuttals to outright lying -- that would have been useful since the Willie Horton days of the Dukakis campaign.

Along with the other link that is the Fox News watchdog, debunking their nonstop lies, smears, and innuendo, thus I attempt to do my little bit to disabuse people of some of the buggering of the truth that is out there.

It's damned little, but I try to practice Rule 62, which is not to take myself too seriously. Which reminds me: I used the word "innuendo" above. Do you know what an innuendo is?

Sure you do. It's an Italian suppository. In-you-endo!

Back to the serious for a moment. The very fine journalist, Tim Russert, passed away suddenly this afternoon. Why is it that the good ones always leave us too soon?

Cheerio, mate.

Before I Turn into a Pumpkin

Boob tube is off, fan whispering, Rosie sewing, Rudy sacked out on couch waiting to go sack out in his bed. We watched "Lilies of the Field," the delightfully sappy movie about an African-American guy who builds a chapel for German nuns with the help of several Arizona Chicanos. And with the help of Jesus, of course. (That's pronounced Hay-soose, of course.) It's the movie in which Sid has the nuns singing "Ay-ay-ay-men!" "See the little baby! Lyin' in a manger...") It's convincing! Just like in the movies!

Two guys who turned out to be high school friends of Amanda removed two ailing trees from our lot today. Double the sunshine now, and I'm going to plant some nice trees to replace the one in front. The guys, Ryan and Jason, did a great job.

My neighbor (who I'd thought ill of at times) found a hubcap for me and placed it on the car. Nice kids. They'll be leaving soon. He's going to manage a store in Nap Town.

Good to see Natalie's posts.

Politics and my frat, Alpha Alpha: those continue to be the principal activities.

Love to all.

I feel myself turning orange ... Poof!

Waiting Until June 20, I Guess -- Or Later?

Senator Clinton said she will continue her campaign "until there is a nominee." I flinch every time she wins a primary and she is likely to win two more (Kentucky and West Virginia) and I am superstitious and cautious about counting chickens before they're hatched. But the media are now calling Barack Obama "the presumptive nominee." The double-digit win in North Carolina and the narrow "defeat"* in Indiana clinched the nomination for him, they say. I will withhold rejoicing until he is nominated.

*As for my part in the Indiana results -- well, Jefferson County went 66% for Hillary. Guess my campaigning was not all that fruitful.

Obama Rally in Nap Town

My friends and family -- for it is you for whom I write this blog -- last night three friends and I went to the Obama rally in Indianapolis. I said I could become an Obama rally junkie. It was a positive experience. Senator Obama did not trash anybody or call anybody names or ridicule or belittle or threaten anybody. He said what he intends to do as president. It was an uplifting experience for me and I think for my friends. He asked us to vote today out of hope, not fear. That is just what I am going to do. God bless all who read this. I hope by writing this blog I can "appeal to your better angels." Amen.

Campaign Worker

This is a first for me: knocking on doors, "cold calls," to pitch for my candidate. I agreed to do so on two days for four hours each. Today, Saturday, was my first stint, and I've been anxious about it for days. I had two medical procedures this week (one up my nose and one up my anus) and they left me rather wrung out and I've had trouble walking because of a heel spur, and I am old and out of shape. In other words, I just didn't know if I would be able to do it today or not. Besides that, would I encounter hostility? Insults? Tirades? Even threats?

I woke very early this morning as I usually do when something is coming up and it's brewing inside me but I managed to get back to sleep until almost nine. I got ready and showed up at the home of a fellow Peace Corps Volunteer, Emeka (this one second generation -- he was born in Nigeria to parents who were both PCVs and given an Ibo name), where I met with a handful of volunteers. I knew Emeka and his wife Jill; Bert, who is also a returned PCV; Bert's wife, Alice, who I worked with at the local newspaper nearly forty years ago and also at the state hospital for several years; and Jerry Y., a master librarian. We met on the upstairs screened back porch of Emeka and Jill's house on West Third Street, with Springdale Cemetery and the green hills to the north as a view. It was breezy and had rained last night and at the moment my khaki cotton twill Chicago commuters' jacket with a short-sleeved shirt felt good. All of those I mentioned and others, including a woman of 81, chattered excitedly as we gathered and had coffee before work. One lady said some very religious people were going to vote against Baron Hill because he had endorsed Barack Obama. Tsk, tsk.

A young woman named Lauren, who is to graduate this year from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, who worked as a volunteer in the Keystone State, and who has been promoted to a paid worker, gave us our walking beats, with specific names and addresses. My assignment was in the vicinity of Wal-Mart, in apartments on Ovo Drive (in back of Head Start) and in the subsidized Windridge apartments, and also on Bellaire, Crestwood, and Cedarwood Drives, all in upper Madison.

I put a round Obama sticker on my shirt and headed off hopefully in my 265K beater with the Obama '08 magnets on the trunk and sans one hubcap (owing to the big doe who hit me a couple of months ago). Might pass for a non-elitist except for the car's Japanese provenance and its excellent gas mileage. (Settle down!)

First person I saw in the Ovo Drive apartment compound was a young hero getting out of a Jeep Cherokee. I asked him for directions and then, "Are you registered?" He said he wasn't because of the "fools," clarifying he meant the two Democratic candidates. He said he is a Republican and would vote for McCain. OK. Will this be hard going?

I found the first apartment and no one was at home. Then the second: a young woman, neatly attired, perhaps a little overly made up (unneeded given her lovely face) promptly answered, a little girl by her side. She said she was registered and was going to vote for Obama, smiling sweetly and reassuringly. Bingo! I told her she was the very first person I'd ever contacted as a campaign volunteer. Which was true. (Oh right. An old coot like you? You've been doing this for 200 years. Or so I speculate she was thinking.)

In these hardscrabble housing places I found that many people were not at home and many had moved. Some buildings were dirtier than others; stair handrails were sticky, floors grimy and littered. Most who answered were in their twenties and early thirties, mostly women. One young man answered from behind the door, "Who is it?" I laughed and said, "I'm not a cop. Or a salesman or a bill collector." He opened the door and said, "How can I help you?" I stated my business and gave him the Obama flyer, although he was not the person on my list. She didn't live there anymore.

I knocked on every door on the list and either met somebody and pitched to them or marked "not at home" on my sheet. I forgot to leave flyers at the places where I got no answer. I finished just before noon, listening at length to a sixtyish woman who launched a diatribe about the immorality of the Clintons and "this black-white thing with Obama." I asked her (just a hint of challenge in my voice) what she meant by the "black-white thing." But I knew what she meant. I said that she had a clear choice in McCain. We'd always had white men in the office and she could vote for a white man again. Happily I told her I had to meet somebody for lunch and got the hell out of there. I flashed a phony smile as I turned on my heel and left. Bitch.

At Frisch's, over lunch Jerry Y. and I discussed our excellent adventures of the morning. He'd gotten into all kinds of discussions about gay people and whether Barack was a Muslim (thanks for the "madrassa" shit, Sean Hannity et al.) and all kinds of convoluted stuff. He said as a librarian, he was inclined to give people answers when they asked questions. Except that as a psychologist (erstwhile), I am aware that sometimes people aren't really asking questions for which they are seeking information but instead asking questions they think they already know the answers to in order to confront you. We had a good lunch and good fellowship and went back out for two more hours.

This time I went to the other side of Michigan Road, where individual family dwellings are, and puzzled out the house-numbering of the three streets of Bellaire, Cedarwood, and Crestwood, parking the car and walking. The sun had steadily fought its way out of the clouds and it was warm and pretty. People working and sitting outside were friendly. My heel is a little sore now but not as bad as it has been. It's getting better. I probably saw 35 people all day and fewer than ten said they were Obama supporters, yet I regard that as really worthwhile: in baseball, batting .300 is good. Might even win you the title some years.

I saw a man my age who has been a teacher at Shawe and who tragically lost a leg (both legs?) to cancer and reminded him we had played baseball under the bridge over fifty years ago. Of the Shawe kids, I said, "They really love you, Jim." And I did too. And he is going to vote for Obama! So is his son, who lives in Nap Town and was there for the weekend. (The son, incidentally, favors one of my favorite comedians, Chris Elliott, though I doubt he'd be flattered).

Returned to "campaign headquarters" at Emeka's, where folks were unwinding and finishing up lunches of delicious chicken. I had one piece and a fruit jar of water and it was a great second lunch. I hadn't completed my list and promised to get back to it on Monday, and will try to phone people I couldn't reach in person.

It occurred to me as I was making my rounds in the morning that I felt like I was on something of a religious quest, and I said the best prayer I could for what I would like to see happen and what I believe would be best for our nation and the world to happen.

I left Emeka's and came home and tried to crash but couldn't. Tonight we went to Hanover College to meet with Baron Hill and Lee Hamilton, who have both endorsed Obama. They spoke confidently of this good young man as presidential, "commander in chief and leader of the free world," to use Lee's words. Baron was the most eloquent I have ever heard him, and I told him so. He beamed. Lee said that Obama has been dismissed by his opponents for "just words," but Lee said that all our good presidents were notable for their uplifting words as well as their deeds. (Writing now, it occurs to me that there's satire pointing up truths in Letterman's "Great Moments in Presidential Speeches.")

Rosie and I left there and ate too much pizza* and came home.

It's been a good day. Amen.

*Oh yes! While we were at the pizza joint the table next to us filled up with 30-something guys. "Medium," a silly drama about a clairvoyant who is always sitting bolt upright in bed waking from some portentous nightmare, was on the boob tube. One of the guys went to the TV and started surfing, looking for what turned out to be a pro BB game (Orlando-Detroit?). While he was going through 40 channels or so, he caught -- you guessed it -- the Reverend Jeremiah Wright in his dashiki chopping the air and swearing "God damn America!" from the pulpit. This was Saturday night at nine o'clock.

Will it never die?

Not until Barack finishes his second term in 2017!

In the meantime, thank God for TV remotes! Thank God for classical music and walks in the fresh air and sunshine, and good conversation and all our other blessings.

Amen.

Take a Rain Check on That, Clark

Mo, you're right: Wright is not only a "wackadoodle," he is a flaming egotist who has himself discredited all his learned and compassionate talk with Bill Moyers last Friday. He is not only saying "God damn America" in the abstract, he is saying "God damn America and everybody in it who doesn't recognize me as the supreme last word on the black church in America and God damn Barack Obama the politician," even though Obama has been the best hope for America as a presidential candidate who has had a real chance to take us at last in a direction we all hunger for.

I've seen a press conference in which Barack reluctantly denounced Wright's barnstorming tour of egotism of the last few days, and it's clear that the infantile behavior of the man has taken a lot of fight out of Barack. I know why. Barack said this:

"I have spent my entire adult life trying to bridge the gap between different kinds of people. That's in my DNA, trying to promote mutual understanding to insist that we all share common hopes and common dreams as Americans and as human beings. That's who I am, that's what I believe, and that's what this campaign has been about."

I fear that those words are going to be this good man's epitaph. I wish it were not so but I don't believe in miracles the way I once did.

Two other African-Americans, Gene Robertson in the Washington post and Bob Herbert in the New York Times, have said that Reverend Wright does not speak for them or for most of the black community but for himself. E.J. Dionne in the Post said that the campaign has shrunk from a great to a small one.

Small campaigns for small people. The chickens have come home to roost, indeed. The press eats this shit up and we eat it up. We get what we deserve.

Footnote: By the way, even though I damn Wright for his wackadoodle behavior, I believe that he has been rendered wacky by the endless loop sound-bite of his sermons that have dismissed and caricatured the man. In his shoes I think I'd do the same thing he has done. The chickens have come home to roost. R.I.P.

The Media Strike Again

Mo, Dear Mo, you are as shallow as the 24/7 Fixed Noise people when all you get out of -- or all you choose to report of -- Reverend Wright's interview by Bill Moyers is that he totally damned Barack -- or so you would like to leave the impression he did, by lifting the sound bite about sic semper "politicians" -- and ignoring everything else. But he's a "wackadoodle" -- isn't he? -- so you can dismiss all he said and all that was reported of the distinguished life of this intelligent, learned, righteous, patriotic man. And by the way, I saw Barack in person a few days ago and he was bubbly as ever. I noted you commented on his clothes. At least no earth tones. Hillary get her pantsuits from Penney's? Where does McCain get his clothes? Navy surplus? Get a life, Mo. Be relevant. I know you can.

Irked but hoping the best is yet to come,
J.T. Evans

Also, Elizabeth Edwards (yes, wife of Senator John Edwards) had an excellent op-ed worth one's attention. It was about the lame-brained media's inability to investigate and report on things of vital interest to the citizens of this nation.

Reverend Wright with Bill Moyers

Here is the transcript of the interview of the Reverend Jeremiah Wright by Bill Moyers on the April 25th airing of Bill Moyers' journal. Please read it. This good, learned, righteous, patriotic man is an asset to Barack Obama, not a liability. His words were inspiring to me.

Reply to a Loved One about the Town Hall Meeting

Glad you enjoyed the post. I enjoyed writing it and am grateful for the response I got. I wish there were a downtown office in Madison where I could go and volunteer for Barack twelve hours a day. It felt really wonderful to be there with the people. It was a time of peace and harmony and joy. I'm glad I went.

I think Barack very much wants to take the high road and he is, as he says, kept from doing so by "distractions." He's taking a lot of hits right now from the media, who think they are being "fair and balanced" because the Clintons have accused them of being easy on him and hard on them. The Clintons are like Bobby Knight, who was always yelling at and intimidating the refs to try to influence their calls.

I mentioned the race of people at the gathering and I was thinking about it. The population of Indiana is 9% black, which is less than the total national proportion, which is maybe 12% now, and I guessed that maybe 20-30% of the folks at the town hall meeting were black, and there might have been more than that. Yes, I am very aware of race, and I think it's time we integrated this land and got together and did away with all the irrelevant nonsense. The media are shit-stirrers (note my mention of Chris Matthews, one of the worst) and are trying to see problems and divisions where none exist -- so they will have something to talk about between commercials. If you want to know how I feel about race, read the speech that Barack wrote, or better yet, watch and listen to it. I loved Barack when he defended the Reverend Wright, saying, "I can no more disown him than I can disown the African-American community." That was what a "mensch" -- a good, moral, courageous person -- would do. Honestly, I believe all the other candidates of recent times -- especially Hillary Clinton -- would disown a friend and mentor, who had been damned in one endlessly aired sound-bite which distorted and misrepresented the truth, and would disown him in a New York minute. At least for the public record.

A Face in the Crowd

4/23/2008. Half-past ten. In the midst of the Obama crowd. I'm glad I came. Festive. Maybe it's time to party at last!

The place is filling up, the gym at IU Southeast in New Albany. Got here soon after nine o'clock and a long queue had already formed in the parking lot. I got in line and soon a Courier-Journal reporter interviewed a lady next to me and then me. Finally! My first ink in the C-J, maybe. She asked me if Barack might do something which would ensure my vote. My reply: "Choose Lee Hamilton for Vice President or Secretary of State."

Stood two hours in the bright, increasingly warm sun. Quite pleasant, but glad I had my hat because my hair is getting thin at the crown of my scalp, as Mandy warned me last year.

Visited with a couple probably in their mid-fifties, white, who were probably of my ilk: watchers of Countdown, among other things. The woman particularly disliked Hillary. She asked me if I would vote for Hillary should the old girl get the nomination instead of Barack and I said I would -- given the truly gruesome alternative -- but would be damned unhappy about it. I hope the question soon becomes moot. [*See below.]

Gorgeous spring day. The doors stand open and people keep filing in. Redbud blooms are splendid this year. A corridor of redbud runs along Indiana Road 3 for miles before it reaches Charlestown. It just so happens that a detour has routed traffic along it on the route to the Falls Cities. I gobbled up the eye candy en route to the town hall meeting this morning. A joy I can't describe, let alone explain.

Young woman with a tot, both of them sitting on the asphalt, give me a bottle of water. I offer to pay her but she refuses. Came here without sense enough to have brought even a drink. Haven't broken fast today and I hope I'm not one of those unfortunates to pass out. I DOUBT IT: I can live on my fat for six months.

All kinds of people, all sizes and shapes and colors. Young, old, black, white. Plenty of older whites like me. Couple of kids from Corydon in the lot: one confesses he ditched today. I say I won't tell. Field trips are educational too. They ask us to save their place while they go smoke. I say I will if they quit. They promise. It's at the top of their list. I reflect that my step-grandson, Bee Jay, couldn't spell politics until Barack. Now he's informed on the issues and talks animatedly about them. (He's a father now, Rosie a great-grandmother -- Magnolia Reid Elles, "Maggie," b. 2008-April-05.)

Haven't seen anyone from Madison. Not surprised and not greatly disappointed. Sure the Democrats there all fell in love with Hillary when they saw her knocking back a shot and a beer and talking guns and shit. She's just one of the boys with her $109 million last year. Of course I'm an elitist. Don't deny it. I stand apart in pity and look at real men vote against their economic interests because the Republicans AND HILLARY distract them with ... distractions. They take the bait every time. It is really, really sad.

Well, if Barack doesn't win we're going to be *Bushed!* again by one or the other of his opponents for the foreseeable future. They will be whores to the special interests in a way I believe Barack will not. God help us.

***

Woke at 6:55 by the alarm clock, a rare experience. Was able to get my e-ticket printed. Had tea with milk and sugar, and poured some coffee to take with me but didn't remember to drink any of it until I was almost here and it was cold. Got away c. eight and took the detour (356 & 203 & 3) back to 62, then came across the Lee H. Hamilton Hwy & I was here.

Several vendors were selling T-shirts and campaign buttons. Noble-poor, I bought none, although there were some neat ones. One or two people were campaigning for themselves, one a Libertarian. His son gave me a pencil. I thanked him.

Lots of security. A cop outside had a German shepherd to sniff bombs or whatever but he (she) looked too happy and playful to help much. I see one secret service guy with his spiral white cord behind his left ear. He too seems amiable and not menacing. Went through metal detectors, like at the airport.

Many good-looking women of all ages. That's always a plus for me. Particularly struck by a pink-complexioned blonde, Scandinavian looks, perfect, traipsing around trying to sign up volunteers. I ask her if she's a Democrat. She says, "I'm a liberal Democrat." I say I am too and tell her I wish there were more like her at Hanover College. "Maybe they're beginning to wake up and smell the coffee," I say. "I hope so," she says, and smiles.

I guess the only person I will recognize as soon as I see him will be Barack. Suppose it's just as well. I visit with a tall, well-built African-American man, with generous gray in his hair and a Bible and a Daily Bread devotional booklet. He has a front tooth with a silver cap. He is a minister. He asks me if I have a church home. I talk about my religious journey. He listens and does not judge. I like him and am sure the feeling is mutual. He is informed on the issues and is committed to Barack.

It's 11:18 and they're still coming into this gym and there's a good bit of room yet, although the really choice seats are pretty well gone. Hell, I could have had a good breakfast and taken my time.

I think I've seen only one Latino -- Latina, actually, young, nearby. Many African-Americans. And of course the TV yakkers (morons all) will say that that is the reason for Barack's appeal.

It just now occurs that a perfect person to have come with me today would have been Warnie. Wish I'd thought of him before now.

Actually, I think the "Latina" is Asian.

Enough. Enough of the electioneering. Leave that to Chris Matthews and the rest of the morons. What will be, will be.

CNN & the locals are here to televise. Rock music playing on the p.a. Sounds good. But no Jimmy Smith. Barack and Michelle probably don't listen to Jimmy Smith. Would they not know who he is?** Chicago? Highly educated? Active in the community? I'd bet even money they do know who he is.

**[There was an organ rendition of "America" playing and I said to the pastor that I'd like to hear it by Jimmy Smith. He didn't know who Jimmy Smith was! I asked the girl beside me, black, if she knew who Jimmy Smith was. She didn't. I have a lot to learn myself. A white girl in front was half-in on the chatter and she didn't know either. I got a laugh from them all by standing up and yelling "Does anybody here know who Jimmy Smith is?" I didn't really "yell," just pretended to, cupping my hands around my mouth like a megaphone. The white girl said she'd like it if John Mellencamp were here to warm up the crowd. (He has been for both Hillary and Barack.) Everybody knew who John Mellencamp was. And I'm sure the pastor more nearly my age would know Motown names if I mentioned them (except I don't know very many).] Excuse this digression, which I added later.

I didn't write any more after that, i.e. at IUS, in my spiral-bound notebook with my fountain pen. Had no intention to when my main man showed.

He did, and the buildup was exciting. He had an adoring crowd and he did great. The particulars are in the C-J story I mentioned above. His talk was not directed at trashing Hillary. He mentioned her as his opponent in the primary but he is already focusing on John McCain's shortcomings and he was convincing. He answered questions fully and clearly. He looked and sounded presidential to me. It was a great experience for this old Peace Corpse, reminiscent of the youthful excitement we felt when JFK was in his glory. I long for my lost youth and would like to be a tireless campaign worker for "the skinny kid with the funny name."

* One sour note. An editorial in the New York Times on April 23rd, "The Low Road to Victory," needs attention paid to it. It speaks for itself.

Bumper Stickers and Sound Bites. And Games

I find others who put an idea I have much better than I can and present it to you, gentle reader. I like the blog by Stanley Fish, Think Again, which appears in the New York Times from time to time, and I particularly like what he wrote yesterday, which I quote (too extensively) from:

"It is not my job either to defend or repudiate every statement made by someone I know. Neither my integrity nor my life’s work depend on my clearing myself of suspicions provoked by the words of others. ...

"In politics, and in much of the rest of life, being held responsible for your own words comes with the territory. Once you’ve opened your big mouth, others have a perfect right to ask, 'Do you really mean that?' or 'What did you mean by that?' or 'If you say that, would you also say…?' ... But why should you be held responsible for words spoken by someone else ...?

"Yet this is the position we routinely place our public figures in. The demand that Barack Obama denounce and renounce his pastor, who delivered himself of sentiments a million miles from anything Obama has ever said, is only the latest and most publicized example. ...

"This denouncing and renouncing game is simply not serious. It is a media-staged theater, produced not in response to genuine concerns – no one thinks that Obama is unpatriotic or that Clinton is a racist or that McCain is a right-wing bigot – but in response to the needs of a news cycle. First you do the outrage (did you see what X said?), then you put the question to the candidate (do you hereby denounce and renounce?), then you have a debate on the answer (Did he go far enough? Has she shut her husband up?), and then you do endless polls that quickly become the basis of a new round.

"Meanwhile, the things the candidates themselves are saying about really important matters – war, the economy, health care, the environment – are put on the back-burner until the side show is over, though the odds are that a new one will start up immediately. ...

"...Usually we denounce our opponents, not our friends or associates or loved ones (unless we are living in a totalitarian state where denunciations are offered as proof of loyalty). So it seems overly dramatic to denounce a supporter because he or she has uttered an opinion you find distasteful. Better to say something mild and nuanced – I don’t agree with that, but I’m not going to turn my back on someone because of a few unfortunate remarks – and get on with the real business at hand.

"That is what Obama did in his justly praised speech. He rejected Reverend Wright’s rants against the United States and against the white power-structure, but he refused to reject the man to whom he had looked for spiritual guidance. And he deplored the tendency 'to pounce' on every 'gaffe,' because, he said, if we continue to do that, we’ll just be 'talking about some other distraction, and then another one, and then another one.'

"The odd thing is that the press that produces these distractions and the populace that consumes them really believe they are discussing issues and participating in genuine political dialogue. But in fact they have abandoned genuine political dialogue and have committed themselves to a conversation that differs only in subject matter from conversations about Eliot Spitzer’s and David Paterson’s sex lives. It’s not politics; it’s titillation clothed in political garb.

"We should collectively denounce and renounce denouncing and renouncing."

Thanks to Stanley Fish for another attempt to reason with us as adults. (Barack's attempt was the first.)

Five Years and 4,000 U.S. Military Deaths in Iraq

It is patriotic to observe, lament, and publish these grim milestones. I love my country, friends. This war is hurting our country.

Barack Obama In His Own Words

"We the people, in order to form a more perfect union."

Two hundred and twenty one years ago, in a hall that still stands across the street, a group of men gathered and, with these simple words, launched America's improbable experiment in democracy. Farmers and scholars; statesmen and patriots who had traveled across an ocean to escape tyranny and persecution finally made real their declaration of independence at a Philadelphia convention that lasted through the spring of 1787.

The document they produced was eventually signed but ultimately unfinished. It was stained by this nation's original sin of slavery, a question that divided the colonies and brought the convention to a stalemate until the founders chose to allow the slave trade to continue for at least twenty more years, and to leave any final resolution to future generations.

Of course, the answer to the slavery question was already embedded within our Constitution - a Constitution that had at its very core the ideal of equal citizenship under the law; a Constitution that promised its people liberty, and justice, and a union that could be and should be perfected over time.

And yet words on a parchment would not be enough to deliver slaves from bondage, or provide men and women of every color and creed their full rights and obligations as citizens of the United States. What would be needed were Americans in successive generations who were willing to do their part - through protests and struggle, on the streets and in the courts, through a civil war and civil disobedience and always at great risk - to narrow that gap between the promise of our ideals and the reality of their time.

This was one of the tasks we set forth at the beginning of this campaign - to continue the long march of those who came before us, a march for a more just, more equal, more free, more caring and more prosperous America. I chose to run for the presidency at this moment in history because I believe deeply that we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together - unless we perfect our union by understanding that we may have different stories, but we hold common hopes; that we may not look the same and we may not have come from the same place, but we all want to move in the same direction - towards a better future for our children and our grandchildren.

This belief comes from my unyielding faith in the decency and generosity of the American people. But it also comes from my own American story.

I am the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas. I was raised with the help of a white grandfather who survived a Depression to serve in Patton's Army during World War II and a white grandmother who worked on a bomber assembly line at Fort Leavenworth while he was overseas. I've gone to some of the best schools in America and lived in one of the world's poorest nations. I am married to a black American who carries within her the blood of slaves and slaveowners - an inheritance we pass on to our two precious daughters. I have brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, uncles and cousins, of every race and every hue, scattered across three continents, and for as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible.

It's a story that hasn't made me the most conventional candidate. But it is a story that has seared into my genetic makeup the idea that this nation is more than the sum of its parts - that out of many, we are truly one.

Throughout the first year of this campaign, against all predictions to the contrary, we saw how hungry the American people were for this message of unity. Despite the temptation to view my candidacy through a purely racial lens, we won commanding victories in states with some of the whitest populations in the country. In South Carolina, where the Confederate Flag still flies, we built a powerful coalition of African Americans and white Americans.

This is not to say that race has not been an issue in the campaign. At various stages in the campaign, some commentators have deemed me either "too black" or "not black enough." We saw racial tensions bubble to the surface during the week before the South Carolina primary. The press has scoured every exit poll for the latest evidence of racial polarization, not just in terms of white and black, but black and brown as well.

And yet, it has only been in the last couple of weeks that the discussion of race in this campaign has taken a particularly divisive turn.

On one end of the spectrum, we've heard the implication that my candidacy is somehow an exercise in affirmative action; that it's based solely on the desire of wide-eyed liberals to purchase racial reconciliation on the cheap. On the other end, we've heard my former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, use incendiary language to express views that have the potential not only to widen the racial divide, but views that denigrate both the greatness and the goodness of our nation; that rightly offend white and black alike.

I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy. For some, nagging questions remain. Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely - just as I'm sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed.

But the remarks that have caused this recent firestorm weren't simply controversial. They weren't simply a religious leader's effort to speak out against perceived injustice. Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country - a view that sees white racism as endemic, and that elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with America; a view that sees the conflicts in the Middle East as rooted primarily in the actions of stalwart allies like Israel, instead of emanating from the perverse and hateful ideologies of radical Islam.

As such, Reverend Wright's comments were not only wrong but divisive, divisive at a time when we need unity; racially charged at a time when we need to come together to solve a set of monumental problems - two wars, a terrorist threat, a falling economy, a chronic health care crisis and potentially devastating climate change; problems that are neither black or white or Latino or Asian, but rather problems that confront us all.

Given my background, my politics, and my professed values and ideals, there will no doubt be those for whom my statements of condemnation are not enough. Why associate myself with Reverend Wright in the first place, they may ask? Why not join another church? And I confess that if all that I knew of Reverend Wright were the snippets of those sermons that have run in an endless loop on the television and You Tube, or if Trinity United Church of Christ conformed to the caricatures being peddled by some commentators, there is no doubt that I would react in much the same way

But the truth is, that isn't all that I know of the man. The man I met more than twenty years ago is a man who helped introduce me to my Christian faith, a man who spoke to me about our obligations to love one another; to care for the sick and lift up the poor. He is a man who served his country as a U.S. Marine; who has studied and lectured at some of the finest universities and seminaries in the country, and who for over thirty years led a church that serves the community by doing God's work here on Earth - by housing the homeless, ministering to the needy, providing day care services and scholarships and prison ministries, and reaching out to those suffering from HIV/AIDS.

In my first book, Dreams From My Father, I described the experience of my first service at Trinity:

"People began to shout, to rise from their seats and clap and cry out, a forceful wind carrying the reverend's voice up into the rafters....And in that single note - hope! - I heard something else; at the foot of that cross, inside the thousands of churches across the city, I imagined the stories of ordinary black people merging with the stories of David and Goliath, Moses and Pharaoh, the Christians in the lion's den, Ezekiel's field of dry bones. Those stories - of survival, and freedom, and hope - became our story, my story; the blood that had spilled was our blood, the tears our tears; until this black church, on this bright day, seemed once more a vessel carrying the story of a people into future generations and into a larger world. Our trials and triumphs became at once unique and universal, black and more than black; in chronicling our journey, the stories and songs gave us a means to reclaim memories that we didn't need to feel shame about...memories that all people might study and cherish - and with which we could start to rebuild."

That has been my experience at Trinity. Like other predominantly black churches across the country, Trinity embodies the black community in its entirety - the doctor and the welfare mom, the model student and the former gang-banger. Like other black churches, Trinity's services are full of raucous laughter and sometimes bawdy humor. They are full of dancing, clapping, screaming and shouting that may seem jarring to the untrained ear. The church contains in full the kindness and cruelty, the fierce intelligence and the shocking ignorance, the struggles and successes, the love and yes, the bitterness and bias that make up the black experience in America.

And this helps explain, perhaps, my relationship with Reverend Wright. As imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me. He strengthened my faith, officiated my wedding, and baptized my children. Not once in my conversations with him have I heard him talk about any ethnic group in derogatory terms, or treat whites with whom he interacted with anything but courtesy and respect. He contains within him the contradictions - the good and the bad - of the community that he has served diligently for so many years.

I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother - a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.

These people are a part of me. And they are a part of America, this country that I love.

Some will see this as an attempt to justify or excuse comments that are simply inexcusable. I can assure you it is not. I suppose the politically safe thing would be to move on from this episode and just hope that it fades into the woodwork. We can dismiss Reverend Wright as a crank or a demagogue, just as some have dismissed Geraldine Ferraro, in the aftermath of her recent statements, as harboring some deep-seated racial bias.

But race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now. We would be making the same mistake that Reverend Wright made in his offending sermons about America - to simplify and stereotype and amplify the negative to the point that it distorts reality.

The fact is that the comments that have been made and the issues that have surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we've never really worked through - a part of our union that we have yet to perfect. And if we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges like health care, or education, or the need to find good jobs for every American.

Understanding this reality requires a reminder of how we arrived at this point. As William Faulkner once wrote, "The past isn't dead and buried. In fact, it isn't even past." We do not need to recite here the history of racial injustice in this country. But we do need to remind ourselves that so many of the disparities that exist in the African-American community today can be directly traced to inequalities passed on from an earlier generation that suffered under the brutal legacy of slavery and Jim Crow.

Segregated schools were, and are, inferior schools; we still haven't fixed them, fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education, and the inferior education they provided, then and now, helps explain the pervasive achievement gap between today's black and white students.

Legalized discrimination - where blacks were prevented, often through violence, from owning property, or loans were not granted to African-American business owners, or black homeowners could not access FHA mortgages, or blacks were excluded from unions, or the police force, or fire departments - meant that black families could not amass any meaningful wealth to bequeath to future generations. That history helps explain the wealth and income gap between black and white, and the concentrated pockets of poverty that persists in so many of today's urban and rural communities.

A lack of economic opportunity among black men, and the shame and frustration that came from not being able to provide for one's family, contributed to the erosion of black families - a problem that welfare policies for many years may have worsened. And the lack of basic services in so many urban black neighborhoods - parks for kids to play in, police walking the beat, regular garbage pick-up and building code enforcement - all helped create a cycle of violence, blight and neglect that continue to haunt us.

This is the reality in which Reverend Wright and other African-Americans of his generation grew up. They came of age in the late fifties and early sixties, a time when segregation was still the law of the land and opportunity was systematically constricted. What's remarkable is not how many failed in the face of discrimination, but rather how many men and women overcame the odds; how many were able to make a way out of no way for those like me who would come after them.

But for all those who scratched and clawed their way to get a piece of the American Dream, there were many who didn't make it - those who were ultimately defeated, in one way or another, by discrimination. That legacy of defeat was passed on to future generations - those young men and increasingly young women who we see standing on street corners or languishing in our prisons, without hope or prospects for the future. Even for those blacks who did make it, questions of race, and racism, continue to define their worldview in fundamental ways. For the men and women of Reverend Wright's generation, the memories of humiliation and doubt and fear have not gone away; nor has the anger and the bitterness of those years. That anger may not get expressed in public, in front of white co-workers or white friends. But it does find voice in the barbershop or around the kitchen table. At times, that anger is exploited by politicians, to gin up votes along racial lines, or to make up for a politician's own failings.

And occasionally it finds voice in the church on Sunday morning, in the pulpit and in the pews. The fact that so many people are surprised to hear that anger in some of Reverend Wright's sermons simply reminds us of the old truism that the most segregated hour in American life occurs on Sunday morning. That anger is not always productive; indeed, all too often it distracts attention from solving real problems; it keeps us from squarely facing our own complicity in our condition, and prevents the African-American community from forging the alliances it needs to bring about real change. But the anger is real; it is powerful; and to simply wish it away, to condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races.

In fact, a similar anger exists within segments of the white community. Most working- and middle-class white Americans don't feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race. Their experience is the immigrant experience - as far as they're concerned, no one's handed them anything, they've built it from scratch. They've worked hard all their lives, many times only to see their jobs shipped overseas or their pension dumped after a lifetime of labor. They are anxious about their futures, and feel their dreams slipping away; in an era of stagnant wages and global competition, opportunity comes to be seen as a zero sum game, in which your dreams come at my expense. So when they are told to bus their children to a school across town; when they hear that an African American is getting an advantage in landing a good job or a spot in a good college because of an injustice that they themselves never committed; when they're told that their fears about crime in urban neighborhoods are somehow prejudiced, resentment builds over time.

Like the anger within the black community, these resentments aren't always expressed in polite company. But they have helped shape the political landscape for at least a generation. Anger over welfare and affirmative action helped forge the Reagan Coalition. Politicians routinely exploited fears of crime for their own electoral ends. Talk show hosts and conservative commentators built entire careers unmasking bogus claims of racism while dismissing legitimate discussions of racial injustice and inequality as mere political correctness or reverse racism.

Just as black anger often proved counterproductive, so have these white resentments distracted attention from the real culprits of the middle class squeeze - a corporate culture rife with inside dealing, questionable accounting practices, and short-term greed; a Washington dominated by lobbyists and special interests; economic policies that favor the few over the many. And yet, to wish away the resentments of white Americans, to label them as misguided or even racist, without recognizing they are grounded in legitimate concerns - this too widens the racial divide, and blocks the path to understanding.

This is where we are right now. It's a racial stalemate we've been stuck in for years. Contrary to the claims of some of my critics, black and white, I have never been so naive as to believe that we can get beyond our racial divisions in a single election cycle, or with a single candidacy - particularly a candidacy as imperfect as my own.

But I have asserted a firm conviction - a conviction rooted in my faith in God and my faith in the American people - that working together we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds, and that in fact we have no choice if we are to continue on the path of a more perfect union.

For the African-American community, that path means embracing the burdens of our past without becoming victims of our past. It means continuing to insist on a full measure of justice in every aspect of American life. But it also means binding our particular grievances - for better health care, and better schools, and better jobs - to the larger aspirations of all Americans -- the white woman struggling to break the glass ceiling, the white man whose been laid off, the immigrant trying to feed his family. And it means taking full responsibility for own lives - by demanding more from our fathers, and spending more time with our children, and reading to them, and teaching them that while they may face challenges and discrimination in their own lives, they must never succumb to despair or cynicism; they must always believe that they can write their own destiny.

Ironically, this quintessentially American - and yes, conservative - notion of self-help found frequent expression in Reverend Wright's sermons. But what my former pastor too often failed to understand is that embarking on a program of self-help also requires a belief that society can change.

The profound mistake of Reverend Wright's sermons is not that he spoke about racism in our society. It's that he spoke as if our society was static; as if no progress has been made; as if this country - a country that has made it possible for one of his own members to run for the highest office in the land and build a coalition of white and black; Latino and Asian, rich and poor, young and old -- is still irrevocably bound to a tragic past. But what we know -- what we have seen - is that America can change. That is the true genius of this nation. What we have already achieved gives us hope - the audacity to hope - for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.

In the white community, the path to a more perfect union means acknowledging that what ails the African-American community does not just exist in the minds of black people; that the legacy of discrimination - and current incidents of discrimination, while less overt than in the past - are real and must be addressed. Not just with words, but with deeds - by investing in our schools and our communities; by enforcing our civil rights laws and ensuring fairness in our criminal justice system; by providing this generation with ladders of opportunity that were unavailable for previous generations. It requires all Americans to realize that your dreams do not have to come at the expense of my dreams; that investing in the health, welfare, and education of black and brown and white children will ultimately help all of America prosper.

In the end, then, what is called for is nothing more, and nothing less, than what all the world's great religions demand - that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. Let us be our brother's keeper, Scripture tells us. Let us be our sister's keeper. Let us find that common stake we all have in one another, and let our politics reflect that spirit as well.

For we have a choice in this country. We can accept a politics that breeds division, and conflict, and cynicism. We can tackle race only as spectacle - as we did in the OJ trial - or in the wake of tragedy, as we did in the aftermath of Katrina - or as fodder for the nightly news. We can play Reverend Wright's sermons on every channel, every day and talk about them from now until the election, and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the American people think that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words. We can pounce on some gaffe by a Hillary supporter as evidence that she's playing the race card, or we can speculate on whether white men will all flock to John McCain in the general election regardless of his policies.

We can do that.

But if we do, I can tell you that in the next election, we'll be talking about some other distraction. And then another one. And then another one. And nothing will change.

That is one option. Or, at this moment, in this election, we can come together and say, "Not this time." This time we want to talk about the crumbling schools that are stealing the future of black children and white children and Asian children and Hispanic children and Native American children. This time we want to reject the cynicism that tells us that these kids can't learn; that those kids who don't look like us are somebody else's problem. The children of America are not those kids, they are our kids, and we will not let them fall behind in a 21st century economy. Not this time.

This time we want to talk about how the lines in the Emergency Room are filled with whites and blacks and Hispanics who do not have health care; who don't have the power on their own to overcome the special interests in Washington, but who can take them on if we do it together.

This time we want to talk about the shuttered mills that once provided a decent life for men and women of every race, and the homes for sale that once belonged to Americans from every religion, every region, every walk of life. This time we want to talk about the fact that the real problem is not that someone who doesn't look like you might take your job; it's that the corporation you work for will ship it overseas for nothing more than a profit.

This time we want to talk about the men and women of every color and creed who serve together, and fight together, and bleed together under the same proud flag. We want to talk about how to bring them home from a war that never should've been authorized and never should've been waged, and we want to talk about how we'll show our patriotism by caring for them, and their families, and giving them the benefits they have earned.

I would not be running for President if I didn't believe with all my heart that this is what the vast majority of Americans want for this country. This union may never be perfect, but generation after generation has shown that it can always be perfected. And today, whenever I find myself feeling doubtful or cynical about this possibility, what gives me the most hope is the next generation - the young people whose attitudes and beliefs and openness to change have already made history in this election.

There is one story in particularly that I'd like to leave you with today - a story I told when I had the great honor of speaking on Dr. King's birthday at his home church, Ebenezer Baptist, in Atlanta.

There is a young, twenty-three year old white woman named Ashley Baia who organized for our campaign in Florence, South Carolina. She had been working to organize a mostly African-American community since the beginning of this campaign, and one day she was at a roundtable discussion where everyone went around telling their story and why they were there.

And Ashley said that when she was nine years old, her mother got cancer. And because she had to miss days of work, she was let go and lost her health care. They had to file for bankruptcy, and that's when Ashley decided that she had to do something to help her mom.

She knew that food was one of their most expensive costs, and so Ashley convinced her mother that what she really liked and really wanted to eat more than anything else was mustard and relish sandwiches. Because that was the cheapest way to eat.

She did this for a year until her mom got better, and she told everyone at the roundtable that the reason she joined our campaign was so that she could help the millions of other children in the country who want and need to help their parents too.

Now Ashley might have made a different choice. Perhaps somebody told her along the way that the source of her mother's problems were blacks who were on welfare and too lazy to work, or Hispanics who were coming into the country illegally. But she didn't. She sought out allies in her fight against injustice.

Anyway, Ashley finishes her story and then goes around the room and asks everyone else why they're supporting the campaign. They all have different stories and reasons. Many bring up a specific issue. And finally they come to this elderly black man who's been sitting there quietly the entire time. And Ashley asks him why he's there. And he does not bring up a specific issue. He does not say health care or the economy. He does not say education or the war. He does not say that he was there because of Barack Obama. He simply says to everyone in the room, "I am here because of Ashley."

"I'm here because of Ashley." By itself, that single moment of recognition between that young white girl and that old black man is not enough. It is not enough to give health care to the sick, or jobs to the jobless, or education to our children.

But it is where we start. It is where our union grows stronger. And as so many generations have come to realize over the course of the two-hundred and twenty one years since a band of patriots signed that document in Philadelphia, that is where the perfection begins.

Barack Obama's Speech Today

Barack Obama connected with the fat pitch of race in America and knocked it out of the park. He gave a speech in Philadelphia this morning that was similar to the keynote speech he gave at the Democratic national convention in 2004, calling for unifying all of us, and this time it was through his leadership as the next president. Although the speech was as nearly perfect as any I’ve heard in decades, I’m sure the hate-jocks will immediately begin trashing it and belittling it and twisting what it said into something ugly and false. But for a few minutes, anyway, I will bask in the sunshine this speech has cast in an otherwise gloomy day. Thanks to the flawed but good Jeremiah Wright for once again providing Barack with the context for standing for unification – which is why we all ought to be voting for Barack Obama. Amen.

An Immodest Proposal

Since Hillary's pillory of Barack (that all he has done is make a speech, while she and McCain are commander-in-chief material and Barack is not -- oh yes, and he is not a Muslim AS FAR AS I KNOW), I propose that Hillary drop out of the campaign for Democratic nominee and ask McCain to be his VP running mate. Mr. McCain, Mrs. Clinton, we don't want your warring ways. And more of the other Bush ways.

A Little Victory for the Good Guys

A Democrat, Bill Foster, a "soft-spoken scientist," won in a special election to the House of Representatives yesterday. He defeated Republican Jim Oberweis, a dairy big businessman. The District that Foster will now represent is Illinois's 14th, including the cities of Aurora and Elgin.

The 14th was vacated by Dennis Hastert, former Speaker of the House, who will be remembered for his indifference to the monkeyshines of Mark Foley, the pedophile who virtually publicly hit on pages while purportedly championing their interests on a Congressional committee.

The "Fighting Fourteenth," as Stephen Colbert would call it, is a bulwark of good old well-heeled Midwestern conservatism. Foster's victory was characterized as an "upset." I hope that cloistered conservatives everywhere are at last getting upset with the business as usual that we have seen for the last seven years.

Being Snowed

We had the biggest snowstorm we've had in years yesterday and overnight. Much to my surprise and pleasure, the sun came out, it's warmed up, and voila! the street is now clear. Think I might be able to go to a meeting tonight, thus treating cabin fever.

Gary Hart (once a Senator and candidate for President) wrote a column in the Huffington Post, "Breaking the Final Rule," in which he said this:

"It will come as a surprise to many people that there are rules in politics. Most of those rules are unwritten and are based on common understandings, acceptable practices, and the best interest of the political party a candidate seeks to lead. One of those rules is this: Do not provide ammunition to the opposition party that can be used to destroy your party's nominee (my italics). This is a hyper-truth where the presidential contest is concerned.

"By saying that only she and John McCain are qualified to lead the country, particularly in times of crisis, Hillary Clinton has broken that rule, severely damaged the Democratic candidate who may well be the party's nominee, and, perhaps most ominously, revealed the unlimited lengths to which she will go to achieve power (my italics). She has essentially said that the Democratic party deserves to lose unless it nominates her."

What happened to the candidate who said she was "honored" to be on the same stage with Senator Obama? What happened to putting the nation and the Democratic party first -- not her own ambition?

On Electing Barack Obama President

Highlights from

Barack Obama: The Man I Know
by George Stevens Jr.
in The Huffington Post

Mr. Stevens, an award-winning TV producer and writer, met Obama in 2003 when the latter was campaigning for the United States Senate.

"I went home that night and told my wife that I had met an exceptional man. It had something to do with the way he listened, the look in his eyes, the easy smile. He was there to meet people and raise money, but nothing would distract him from whomever he was talking to at a particular moment. ...

"He was relaxed and centered as he evaluated his prospects; he sought the advice of people he respected; he assessed the obstacles and the work that would have to be accomplished; and he made his decision. Then he put together a staff and a campaign team, and began to enlist followers, much like the community organizer he once was in Chicago. The new kid on the block raised more money than the incumbent Clinton organization that was able to call on political resources developed over a decade. ...

"I saw him last fall when he remained thirty points behind in the national polls and the press was nearly unanimous in saying that the "rock star," as they had dubbed him, was a flash in the pan. Some of his supporters were discouraged and the pundits were insisting that he must attack Senator Clinton directly. ... He promised that he would be "making distinctions" between himself and Senator Clinton, but that to attack her personally would undercut the underlying theme of his campaign which was to put the politics of polarization and division behind us. ...

"Over the past four years, I have observed in him a consistency that earns confidence. He is thoughtful, courteous and humorous, yet he leaves no doubt that, while being a good listener, he will shape his own thinking and fight for what he believes in. He makes me believe that we can be the country we want to be, that we can solve the intractable problems that have divided us, that we can enlist the youth of America to help build our future, that we can be respected again in the eyes of the world -- and, yes, that we can have a president who will call us to the high ground, and ask us to ask ourselves, once again, not what our country can do for us but what we can do for our country."

Herbert, Collins, and Waterston. And this Blogger.

Bob Herbert's NY Times column today said a lot about the Clinton-Obama phenomenon (try pronouncing that, and note that I have put the two surnames in alphabetical order). Namely that it is good news for all that the contenders are dialing down the invective and getting people thinking that two attractive candidates on the same ticket could be twice as compelling to voters as one, and not tearing each other up so badly that the Gruesome Old Party wins again, this time by default.

But Bob also reminded us that the GOP is still out there in the parking lot doing one-arm pushups when it comes to dirty tricks:

"Anyone who thinks the Democrats are a lock to win in November has somehow forgotten about Karl Rove, the right-wing radio network, the hanging chads of 2000, the Swift boat debacle, the intimidation of black voters in Florida, the long lines of Democratic voters standing forlornly in the rain in Ohio, and on and on."

Gail Collins is one of my new favorite columnists. She has wit that is not nihilistic like Mo Dowd's. I lift this from today's column:

Q. "I am an independent and looking for a president with integrity. Should I vote for John McCain or Barack Obama?

[A.] "Didn’t we all swear to stop picking the candidate who would be most fun to go on a picnic with? You’re torn between the guy who’s been against the war from the beginning and the guy who’s willing to stay in Iraq for 100 years? Between the guy who wants to pay for a $50 billion-a-year health care program by eliminating tax cuts for the wealthy, and the guy who wants to keep the tax cuts and pay for them by cutting the budget? Get a grip."

There are other questions and answers worth reading there. Take a look.

Law and Order has a new D.A. He is "Jack McCoy," played by Sam Waterston. "Arthur Branch" is out. And so is Fred Thompson. Oh la! And Sam is doing comic spots on Stewart's "Daily Show." Kind of rubbing it in. It works for me, when the butt is a lobbyist turned actor turned senator turned actor turned presidential candidate.

Finally, commentary from this writer on a Clinton-Obama ticket. I think that if Obama is nominated for POTUS, he'll ask Hillary, because he is an idealist. If Hillary gets the nod, she'll ask somebody like Evan Bayh, because she is a pragmatist. Barack will not do anything to get elected, but Hillary will. That's all.

Obama '08

Ron,

I guess we must have some telepathy. After reading the NYT columns today by Gary Wills, Frank Rich, Bob Herbert, and Caroline Kennedy (q.v.), I contacted the official Obama website and made a token contribution (all my contributions are token at this stage), and I am throwing my wholehearted support behind Barack. I will work for him in the campaign. "Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose," as Janis sang, and we have no way to go but up from this quagmire. I am fed up with the Clintons, agreeing with Wills that too many cooks spoil the broth, and there's just nobody else. And I have always liked Barack. (His nickname, by the way, is Barry.) I think he is as qualified as any candidate. Unless some others enter the field he's it for me. I'm thinking of people of the stature of George McGovern, and there aren't many of those left. I will of course vote for Barack in the primary and hope and pray for the chance to vote for him in November. Considering that I joined the Peace Corps mainly because I was inspired by the idealism and hope that Jack Kennedy, the upstart young president of that day, provided, I don't think I could consider anyone else at this latter day of my life.

So, Ron, Senator Obama is my political fave too! Here's hoping and praying!

Peace, JT

My Family = Fun

Really enjoying the family blogging, what with the interior monologue on the debate, bitch slapping (!), exotic cuisine, and whatnot. Lying in bed with the "splint" (a sort of boot -- no, Donna, it doesn't have a high heel) on my foot to help the heel spur (doing so, so). And Celine Dion is indeed "fucking amazing," AK!

Saw my cousin Charles Evans again tonight and plan to pick him up for lunch at Our Best in Smithfield, Kentucky. He doesn't have a phone -- he says it is an "unnecessary inconvenience" -- so I'll take my chances on finding him at home one day next week. He lives somewhere between Sligo and the Ohio River, I think. (You laugh at the name Sligo? It's named after County Sligo, Ireland, the home of the poet W.B. Yeats, the originator of "slouching toward" that became a catchy allusion for TV talking heads and book titles by nobodies for a while.) As old-fashioned as "Sug" is, I think it'd be proper to get to his place by buckboard and a team of mules, but he actually drove off from the meeting tonight in a late-model pickup truck. I'll bet at home he even has electric lights!

9 Days In: Happy 2008!

Glad Dave had his beard shaved off ... Inadvertently I'm now at 93 for 93 ... Jon certainly hasn't lost it: the only way to look at these jokers is through the lens of his satire ... I lean to Barack (pleased with Iowa) but will take Hillary (not disappointed with NH): anything but GOP: the two of them would make a great ticket ... Don't have the post-holiday blahs: am over the holiday blahs and feel great ... Glad for my musical family, guitar, drums, whatever; I've learned the first verse of "Love Changes Everything" and sing it while I'm driving ... Have had a yearning to ski Snow Basin again: still recall the last day I skied in Utah (with Niece Jeanie) and didn't fall down once! ... Vet says Rudy is in great shape for a senior canine citizen ... My sponsor Leo gave me a 3-month token tonight: it's green: it goes well in my pocket with the 25-year coin, which is lacquered navy blue and gold: I'm proud of both ... Saw the podiatrist today about my heel spur and he gave me a "splint" to wear at night and an exercise plan and I think I'm going to be walking again by spring ...