Duck Soup

Please vote for Obama so we can have a toast late April 22! Senator Barack Obama has been right on more issues than the other Presidential candidates. Senator Obama was the only candidate who had the judgment necessary to take a stand against our misguided war in Iraq from the start. Obama is the candidate has most consistently called for America to end the wild goose chase in Iraq and redirect its might to the unfinished business of finally tracking down the terrorists who attacked us on 9/11. Obama has been the strongest candidate on cleaning up Washington. He spearheaded major ethics reform laws in Congress. He is the only candidate to reject money from registered lobbyists. He is the only candidate to pass laws showing where all our government money spent on contractors is going. Senator Obama is the only candidate who had the foresight not to vote for Bush’s warmongering resolution last Fall declaring Iran’s military to be terrorists. Only weeks later we learned that at the same time the President was painting the imminent picture of a nuclear-armed Iran, a secret top-level National Intelligence Estimate report had found that Iran stopped its nuclear weapons development in 2003 and probably hasn’t restarted it since then. The other candidates as recently as last Fall fell into the trap of nearly going down the path towards another unnecessary war we cannot afford. Obama is the candidate who is inspiring people with a clear and consistent message of unity and hope for change. He is the only candidate who understands that the usual grind it out, Washington attack politics has not worked and will not work to bring real and lasting change to America. Without a unity of purpose and hope, no change can stick. Future politicians will tear down any change that does not have broad and unified support. Of all the Presidential candidates, Obama has shown the most promise in being able to deliver. He has proven he has the ability to execute on his message. He managed and organized his campaign better than the other candidates. He went from being the long-shot to taking the lead in delegates, the popular vote and states won. Senator Obama has tried to stay on the high road and has been the most honest with Americans in his campaign. He has done something big right, in a big way. Senator Obama is not perfect, but he is our best hope. Please vote to enable us, the People, to take the next steps to changing America for the better with President Obama leading the way.

Yes, Senator Clinton seemed to buy into the ABC hype a little and lose sight of the issues a bit. Senator Barack Obama has been right on more issues than the other Presidential candidates. Senator Obama was the only candidate who had the judgment necessary to take a stand against our misguided war in Iraq from the start. Obama is the candidate has most consistently called for America to end the wild goose chase in Iraq and redirect its might to the unfinished business of finally tracking down the terrorists who attacked us on 9/11. Obama has been the strongest candidate on cleaning up Washington. He spearheaded major ethics reform laws in Congress. He is the only candidate to reject money from registered lobbyists. He is the only candidate to pass laws showing where all our government money spent on contractors is going. Senator Obama is the only candidate who had the foresight not to vote for Bush’s warmongering resolution last Fall declaring Iran’s military to be terrorists. Only weeks later we learned that at the same time the President was painting the imminent picture of a nuclear-armed Iran, a secret top-level National Intelligence Estimate report had found that Iran stopped its nuclear weapons development in 2003 and probably hasn’t restarted it since then. The other candidates as recently as last Fall fell into the trap of nearly going down the path towards another unnecessary war we cannot afford. Obama is the candidate who is inspiring people with a clear and consistent message of unity and hope for change. He is the only candidate who understands that the usual grind it out, Washington attack politics has not worked and will not work to bring real and lasting change to America. Without a unity of purpose and hope, no change can stick. Future politicians will tear down any change that does not have broad and unified support. Of all the Presidential candidates, Obama has shown the most promise in being able to deliver. He has proven he has the ability to execute on his message. He managed and organized his campaign better than the other candidates. He went from being the long-shot to taking the lead in delegates, the popular vote and states won. Senator Obama has tried to stay on the high road and has been the most honest with Americans in his campaign. He has done something big right, in a big way. Senator Obama is not perfect, but he is our best hope. Please vote to enable us, the People, to take the next steps to changing America for the better with President Obama leading the way.

Barack Obama is the candidate who is inspiring people with his message of unity and hope for change. Without unity, there is no hope for change – it just won’t stick. Without hope, people won’t come together to change America. Obama has shown the most promise in being able to deliver. He managed and organized his campaign very well. He went from being the long-shot to leading in delegates, the popular vote and states won. By and large, he has taken the high road and tried to be honest with Americans in his campaign. He has done something big right, in a big way. He also has shown he makes wise choices under pressure. He came out against the Iraq war during his campaign for Senator even though his opponent used his position against the war relentlessly against him. Only a few politicians, like Speaker of the House Pelosi, Senator Boxer, and Senator Graham and a few other Democrats like them had the foresight to see through Bush’s hype. To this day, ask a dozen people why we are in this war in Iraq and you will get a dozen different answers. Senator Obama has a record of achievement in the Senate. After all the horrible Jack Abramoff and other Republican scandals, Senator Obama spearheaded ethics laws to reform Congress. Senator Obama also passed laws that require the government to disclose on a web site for all to see the contractors receiving our hard-earned taxpayer dollars. Senator Obama does not take money from lobbyists in this campaign. He is trying to set the standard. He knows that how our government operates and how it can be influenced will be a big factor in determining its success in working for the American people. Hillary Clinton also is a good candidate and I respect those Democrats who are for her. I respectfully believe, however, that she has not shown her supposed managerial skills in her campaign. She was supposed to be the inevitable winner, but her campaign went broke, had to fire a bunch of people and hit below the belt and redid their message too many times. Her other big chance to show her leadership skills was her unsuccessful attempt to reform our healthcare system in the 1990s. Finally, as we all know, her most important vote of her career, on Iraq was a grave error which she would not admit for a long time. I would chalk it up to experience except that just last Fall she again voted for another Bush bill to warmonger in the Middle East – this time declaring part of Iran’s military to be terrorists, which technically was a declaration of war. I still think Hillary could be a good candidate but I don’t see the experience to support it as well as Barack has. Most important of all, whoever you vote for in this Democratic Primary, please vote!

Obama is a better candidate than Hillary Clinton. Take a close look at Hillary Clinton’s real “experience”: 1. Voted for the Iraq War. 2. Failed to reform healthcare in the early 1990s, just the way she promises again she will reform it now. 3. Mismanaged her Presidential campaign: it went broke so she had to lend it $5 million of her personal fortune. The campaign is rife with infighting and low blows against Obama. 4. Helped push through NAFTA. Turns out she lied when she said she was against it. http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/03/clintons-1993-n.html http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080319/pl_nm/usa_politics_clinton_records_dc http://news.yahoo.com/s/thenation/20080320/cm_thenation/1300860 5. Is hiding all sorts of records, including her records as First Lady, her donor and other records from her and Bill’s $500 million “charity”, and her and Bill’s tax returns which will show how they made a ton of dough off of their “public service.” To top it all off, Hillary Clinton didn’t do half the stuff she says she did as First Lady. For example she says she was running for her life when she landed in Bosnia when in fact she was greeted in a ceremony where a young child kissed her. Hillary’s excuse when she got caught lying: sleep deprivation! Oh yeah, she’ll really be ready for that 3am call. Turns out she didn’t do much in negotiating the peace treaty in Ireland either. I'll take Obama any day. There is a reason he is winning this election on every count. He was against the Iraq war from the start. He has fought for ethics reform in Congress and disclosing how our taxpayer dollars are spent on all those contractors. He will clean up our government. He will bring us together. Obama is our best shot. If we have unity and hope, we can change America. If we don't, we have no chance.

I am sick and tired of the Clintons. I don't believe them. I believe Obama. Hillary Clinton says she is fully vetted. I doubt it. Just look at this example that was reported over the past few days. Hillary Clinton won Ohio largely on the issue of Nafta. Even though Nafta was a major "achievement" in the Clinton Administration, Hillary Clinton said she is and always was against it. She even questioned the sincerity of Barack Obama's position on Nafta. Ohio voters know that Bush has not stood up for American workers on trade. Bush doesn't understand the "fair" part of the phrase "free and fair trade." Making American workers compete against exploited cheap labor with pennies for wages and horrid working conditions is not fair. As Obama has said, we need to make our trade partners implement work standards to stop them from making products on the cheap so American workers can't fairly compete. So in view of her clear positions on her husband's Presidency, we wondered why Hillary Clinton fought the release of her records as First Lady. It didn't make sense. After all, she touted her experience as First Lady saying it makes her more qualified to be President than Barack Obama. She and the Democrats also criticize the Bush Administration for its secretive manner of running our government. Now we know. Hillary Clinton's First Lady records, which were just released over her objections, reveal that Hillary Clinton was not against Nafta. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080319/pl_nm/usa_politics_clinton_records_dc http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/03/clintons-1993-n.html http://news.yahoo.com/s/thenation/20080320/cm_thenation/1300860 It always sounded weird that Hillary Clinton would be against Nafta, something Bill Clinton considered a major achievement of his Administration. In fact, she wasn't against it. She even lobbied for it. To put it bluntly, Hillary Clinton lied. She lied about something important. She lied to pander to voters. Hillary Clinton stole a ton of votes in the Ohio election on a lie. This is really no surprise coming from the candidate who says the vote in Michigan should count even though she, her opponents and the Democratic Party itself had all agreed that Michigan broke the rules and its vote would not count, and even though her opponents' names were not even on the ballot. The unfortunate truth is that Hillary Clinton has a serious credibility problem. Add that she failed to deliver on key issues, like her failed effort at healthcare reform in the early 1990s, like her vote for the Iraq war, and like her failing Presidential campaign in which she has repeatedly taken cheap shots at her opponent who is the likely Democratic nominee for President. It's time to end the two decades of Bush-Clinton rule in America. It's time for a change. We need someone who will play it a little straighter, listen a little harder, and encourage us to rekindle hope and work together for positive change for all Americans. http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/03/clintons-1993-n.html "Clinton's 1993 NAFTA Meeting March 19, 2008 4:58 PM One interesting event in Sen. Hillary Clinton's just-released schedules from the 1990s comes on Nov. 10 1993, when the former first lady was to serve as the closing act during a briefing on NAFTA, the trade agreement she now assails. 11:30 am - 11:45 am NAFTA BRIEFING DROP-BY Room 450, OEOB PARTICIPANTS: Approx 120 expected to attend (See briefing book for further info) FORMAT: - Alexis Herman intros HRC for brief remarks -HRC concludes program (pp. 1375 and 1376) Two attendees of that closed-door briefing, neither of whom are affiliated with any campaign, describe that event for ABC News. It was a room full of women involved in international trade. David Gergen served as a sort of master of ceremonies as various women members of the Cabinet talked up NAFTA, which had yet to pass Congress. "It wasn’t a drop-by it was organized around her participation," said one attendee. "Her remarks were totally pro-NAFTA and what a good thing it would be for the economy. There was no equivocation for her support for NAFTA at the time. Folks were pleased that she came by. If this is a still a question about what Hillary's position when she was First Lady, she was totally supportive of NAFTA. That first attendee recalls that the First Lady's office in the East Wing put together "the invitation list, who was invited authorizations and all that stuff." And what is this attendee's response to Clinton today distancing herself from NAFTA? "For people who worked hard to pass NAFTA and who support the importance of markets opening for the economy in the long term, they're very upset. A number of the women who were there are very upset. You need to have some integrity in your position. The Clintons when Bill Clinton was president took a moderate position on trade for Democrats. For her to repudiate that now seems pretty phony." Recalls a second attendee, "they were looking for women in international trade who supported NAFTA. Senator Clinton came by at the end. And of course she asked for our support and help in passing NAFTA." Women who attended that event, the second attendee says, have been incredulous to see Clinton distance herself from the trade agreement as she campaigns today. "They're all saying, 'What's this all about?' We all heard it firsthand." She says Clinton isn't being honest with voters today."