8 posts tagged “barack obama”

My fellow Texans. Today is THE day. The day WE make policital history.

I've voted? Have you?

I'm caucusing tonight. Are you?

I shook hands with the next President of the United States.

People started getting in line at 7:45a, the gates opened at noon and he's scheduled to speak at 2p. If I hadn't had off Friday and yesterday (and didn't have doctor appts tomorrow, Thursday and next Tuesday), I'd have taken the day off and waited it out.

Hillary's coming back later this week (Bill's in on Thursday too), so maybe he will be back before March 4. I really would like to see him in person and not just as a live stream on my PC.

BaylorGirl has a nice recap of our trip to see Hil last week.

Obama comes to town tomorrow. The doors open at noon. Which means I need to be in line at 10a. I wish today hadn't been a holiday, it would make it easier to be gone half a day.

For the first time in my voting life, Texas might actually have a role in this year’s election. For the first time that I can remember, the Democrats are coming to town.

I’m going to see Hillary tomorrow.

Yes, I’m still an Obama girl, and when he comes I’ll be there.

Hell, I’ll even go see McCain if the opportunity arises.

(I draw the line at Huckabee.)

Did you know that unless you were born before 1958 you’ve not voted in an election that did not include a Bush or Clinton?

What was your reaction to the results of the Iowa caucuses?  

I was quite pleased, actually. And here's why:

SENATOR BARACK OBAMA: Thank you, Iowa.

You know, they said this day would never come.

They said our sights were set too high. They said this country was too divided, too disillusioned to ever come together around a common purpose.

But on this January night, at this defining moment in history, you have done what the cynics said we couldn't do.

In lines that stretched around schools and churches, in small towns and in big cities, you came together as Democrats, Republicans and independents, to stand up and say that we are one nation. We are one people. And our time for change has come.

You said the time has come to move beyond the bitterness and pettiness and anger that's consumed Washington.

To end the political strategy that's been all about division, and instead make it about addition. To build a coalition for change that stretches through red states and blue states.

We are choosing hope over fear.

We're choosing unity over division, and sending a powerful message that change is coming to America.

You said the time has come to tell the lobbyists who think their money and their influence speak louder than our voices that they don't own this government -- we do. And we are here to take it back.

The time has come for a president who will be honest about the choices and the challenges we face, who will listen to you and learn from you, even when we disagree, who won't just tell you what you want to hear, but what you need to know.

I'll be a president who finally makes health care affordable and available to every single American, the same way I expanded health care in Illinois, by...

... by bringing Democrats and Republicans together to get the job done. I'll be a president who ends the tax breaks for companies that ship our jobs overseas and put a middle-class tax cut into the pockets of working Americans who deserve it.

I'll be a president who harnesses the ingenuity of farmers and scientists and entrepreneurs to free this nation from the tyranny of oil once and for all.

And I'll be a president who ends this war in Iraq and finally brings our troops home...

... who restores our moral standing, who understands that 9/11 is not a way to scare up votes but a challenge that should unite America and the world against the common threats of the 21st century. Common threats of terrorism and nuclear weapons, climate change and poverty, genocide and disease.

This was the moment when we tore down barriers that have divided us for too long; when we rallied people of all parties and ages to a common cause; when we finally gave Americans who have never participated in politics a reason to stand up and to do so.

This was the moment when we finally beat back the policies of fear and doubts and cynicism, the politics where we tear each other down instead of lifting this country up. This was the moment.

Years from now, you'll look back and you'll say that this was the moment, this was the place where America remembered what it means to hope. For many months, we've been teased, even derided for talking about hope. But we always knew that hope is not blind optimism. It's not ignoring the enormity of the tasks ahead or the roadblocks that stand in our path.

It's not sitting on the sidelines or shirking from a fight. Hope is that thing inside us that insists, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us if we have the courage to reach for it and to work for it and to fight for it.

Hope is the bedrock of this nation. The belief that our destiny will not be written for us, but by us, by all those men and women who are not content to settle for the world as it is, who have the courage to remake the world as it should be.

The same message we had when we were up and when we were down; the one that can save this country, brick by brick, block by block, that together, ordinary people can do extraordinary things.

Because we are not a collection of red states and blue states. We are the United States of America. And in this moment, in this election, we are ready to believe again.

Thank you, Iowa.

Excerpts of this transcript of Senator Barack Obama's victory speech to his supporters in Des Moines after the Iowa Caucuses, as provided by Congressional Quarterly via The Associated Press.

One of the things I regret from college is not agreeing to be on the Debate team. I think it was my drama teacher who asked me. I said no because I wanted to focus on my "journalism" career. So much for that idea.

Anyway. I do wish I'd gotten involved with the debaters. Because I am not very good at it. Debating my opinions or thoughts. Being able to support them.

Like what I think about politics or religion.

There were three things my mom taught me that you just didn’t talk about with others. Politics, religion and money. I’d say that later evolved to include sex, but that’s a totally different post.

These were topics that you just didn’t discuss. They were meant to be private. To this day, my mom has no idea who I voted for in the last few elections. She knows how much I make, but no one else does. And when it comes to religion, I know what I believe – articulating it is difficult.

So talking politics is like pulling teeth for me. And nearly as painful.

I have a friend who is an avid, open Democrat. She is not someone you want to debate the best attributes of the Republican party with. She’s a Hillary girl.

I don’t consider myself a Democrat. Or a Republican. I’ve voted both ways in the past 20 years. I vote for the candidate I believe will do the best job.

I don’t like the idea of these titles. I consider myself an American. And I sure wish the candidates would put aside their Democrat/Republican differences and remember that they are Americans too. I want them to do what is best for our country. Our citizens. Regardless if they live in a blue state or red state.

In my goal to be "living an authentic life" full of "Enough!" and "No matter what's!" perhaps its time to talk about who I really am. What I really want. And talking politics and religion seems to be a necessary part of that.

That being said, I am tired of politics as usual.

Sorry girl, but Hillary is politics as usual.

Rudy Guiliani? Please.

The rest of the Republican party? Who are they? I have respect for John McCain, but he is not who we need right now.

So, I am an Obama girl.

When he speaks, I like what I hear. I've read his books and like who he appears to be.

Part of me hesitates to publish this. Sure as I do, tomorrow they will publish photos of him naked with goats or something.

But, if he is who I believe in, then I need to say it.

VoteObama08