Pistol Opera - "Obama"

I received an email today from LA writer and musician Eli Braden along with a copy of his new song about Barack Obama. I. . LOVE. . IT! It reminds me of the Red Hot Chili Peppers!

"I have a band called Pistol Opera, and we recently recorded a catchy, upbeat original song called 'Obama' in support of Barack Obama's candidacy. It's funny, irreverent and light-hearted, but also (hopefully) a suitably inspirational tribute to this amazing candidate."

Eli asked that I use his work in connection with any effort to help Obama get elected this November. So, I am most happy to share it with you here this evening. The lyrics are posted after the clickable player below:

"OBAMA" lyrics
by Eli Braden - (c) 2008 Pistol Opera Music

Listen up, people, it's a brand new day
It's time to sweep the dim, dark past away - hear what I say!
Coming soon to the U.S.A.
The Technicolor sequel to J.F.K.

Barack Hussein Obama
No relation to Saddam or that jerk Osama
He's a man on a mission
A visionary poet slash politician

Separate the chaff from Obama the wheat
In a whitebread world, he got the meat
Makes the present state of politics obsolete
From Chicago, where fog comes on little cat feet

So haters stop running your trap talking smack
Get on the O train; stop acting wack
Like Abraham Lincoln crossed with The Mack
Once you go Barack, you never go back - Check it!

Botswana to Ghana / Nobu to Benihana
Run go tell your mama about / Obama, Obama
Iraq like Vietnam-a / Barack gonna end the drama
I think you're gonna wanna vote / Obama, Obama

Got charisma and style; smart as a whip
The child of a mixed-race relationship
Born in the 60s when everything was groovy
Heidi Klum and Seal can play his parents in the movie

Came from next-to-nothing; he's a self-made man, so DAMN
Stand up! Give the brother a hand!
He got a grand slam plan to save this land
And if he can't do it, nobody can

Honolulu to Jakarta, Boston to Chicago
Got principles like Doctor Zhivago
The polar opposite of Iago
Got more taste than foie gras from Spago

A soul brother 24/7
Think about the message to the world we'll be sending
If come this election, we stop this infection
Of fear that's been spreading / Come on now - elect him!

Taco Bell to Tijuana / Britney to Madonna
The hiphop Dalai Lama / Obama, Obama
Cornbread made of manna / A soulfood intifada
I think you're gonna wanna vote / Obama, Obama

Nice to Nicaragua / Nickleback to Nirvana
Run, go tell your mama about / Obama, Obama
Champaign to Urbana / Kutcher to Valderrama
I think you're gonna wanna vote / Obama, Obama

L.A. to Lackawanna / Avant-Garde to Dada
The hiphop Dalai Lama / Obama, Obama
Yonkers to Yokohama / Yamaha to Tama
I think you're gonna wanna vote / Obama, Obama


Drop by and visit Pistol Opera on their MySpace page!

Here's what I just don't get.

Help me out here. I've been wracking my poor brain trying to figure out *what* in the world the DNC thinks it's doing by even *having* a hearing to discuss Florida and Michigan delegates.

I'm having a hard time not becoming truly cynical again about our American political scene. 'Cause folks, I just don't know any other reason this is even happening except for political posturing. If She Who Must Not Be Named was ahead, I'm thinking she wouldn't be pushing for this. And Obama wouldn't be pushing it either. The simple fact that they all agreed to the 'punishment' at the beginning seems to make no difference. Surely everyone knows it's a backasshanded way for SWMNBN to take the nomination. And God help the dems if she does.

I feel like I'm watching some stupid circus. Obama is the only one who stands to lose if they change the goal posts again....and I"m thinking that isn't going to go over well with the millions of supporters behind him. If one can only win by changing the rules, how many other rules might be changed during the Presidency? Aren't the Dems shouting all over the place how Bush has undermined our democracy by changing the rules???? So why are the DNC even humoring this woman? Why do they even play her game? Does she really hold that much sway in the Party? If I seriously hear one more complaint from her camp about the 'disrespect' she's received by the press and the Party, I'm gonna blow. She's managed to convince a bunch of suits in the inner circle to listen to her drivel......and make no mistake, it *is* drivel......simple fodder for the cable news networks. I'd say if the press were serious about disrespecting her, they'd have laughed her off the political stage for even suggesting the MI and FL delegates be seated. But they've played along.....She better stop biting the hand that's feeding her.


It all makes me sick, and perpetrates the notion that our country really doesn't have much respect for fairness. SWMNBN has helped to demonize and belittle the feminists who support her by playing the 'victim' of some supposed malicious 'cover up'. Holy criminy....if you want respect and equal treatment, then fricken be a person of your word, don't manipulate and whine, and accept defeat with grace and humility. Be a role model for decency and not rule-changing to get your way.

This woman has SO MUCH opportunity for doing good regarding women's issues. In my opinion, she's squandered that and is using her influence over her supporters to get her own way. It stinks to high heaven the same way 'pro-life' candidates play to the right. Just to get votes. It makes women look bad. Not strong, but desparate, manipulative, whiney and childish. And they have their leader to thank. She'll forever be held as the quintessential example of a SORE LOSER. What a legacy.

Is the race over?

Last night Obama crossed the threshold of pledged delegates, securing for himself more than half of the delegates available through the various state and territory contests. He is certain to pick up even more with Puerto Rico coming up in 11 days followed by Montana and South Dakota two days later on June 3. Obama now has 1,931 pledged delegates compared to Hillary’s total of 1,759 and the junior senator from Illinois is now only 95 delegates short of the 2,026 needed for the nomination.

The odds are that the DNC rules committee will work out a plan to seat both Michigan and Florida at the convention and will - in all likelihood - divvy up those state’s delegates between the two candidates. Obama has also had a steady stream of previously uncommitted super delegates filling into his numbers trough. More super delegates will probably put him over the top either before or right after June 3.

The DNC already knows where this is heading, judging by the fact they are having discussions with the Obama campaign about sending Paul Tewes, a top Obama campaign aide, to the Democratic National Committee to oversee operations for the Summer and Fall campaign against Sen. John McCain. The only people holding out right now are members of Hillary’s campaign staff. However, Patti Solis Doyle - Hillary’s former campaign manager -has confirmed that she has been having informal conversations with Obama strategist, David Axelrod, about helping Obama secure a victory in November.

During her victory speech last night in Louisville, KY, Hillary Clinton once again signaled that she understands the inevitability of the outcome when she said, “while we continue to go toe-to-toe for this nomination, we do see eye-to-eye when it comes to uniting our party to elect a Democratic president this Fall.” The question is, will Hillary be able to convince her supporters of the importance of rallying around Obama and defeating John McCain? Many of the voters in Appalachia are obviously uncomfortable with the thought of having a black president. Somehow, the campaign is going to have to figure out a way to cut through the generational bias against African-Americans.

Irregardless of Appalachia, I believe Obama could end up having an easy time defeating John McCain in the general election. Contrary to the Clinton campaign’s continuing argument about Hillary winning New York, California,and other big states, Obama is certain to carry those Democratic strongholds in the Fall.

Once the Fall election cycle is in full swing, the DNC and the Obama campaign will start pounding away at John McCain over the economy, the war in Iraq and McCain’s lobbyist-heavy campaign staff. Four of McCain’s staffers had to resign after it was revealed they were actually agents of foreign governments.

Some examples of McCain’s lobbyist buddies. Hiss biggest fund raiser, Tom Loeffler, is a lobbyist for EADS North America, which includes Saudi Arabia among its clients. McCain’s top foreign policy adviser is Randy Scheunemann, founder of Orion Strategies. Orion has represented countries as diverse as Macedonia, Georgia and Taiwan. Peter Madigan is a lobbysist for Griffin, Johnson, Dover & Stewart. He actually represented the United Arab Emirates over their enslavement of underage boys they forced to be as camel jockeys in races.

Charlie Black who still remains on McCain’s staff as his spokesman and senior counsel, who was a lobbyist for BKSH & Associates once represented human rights abusers like the Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos, Zaire dictator Mobuto Sese Seko, Somalia’s Mohamed Siad Barre and Nigeria’s Ibrahim Babangida. In addition, he also represented CNOOC, the Chinese government’s oil industry.

Although all of this information is easy to find, the majority of the public won’t learn about it until the campaign is in full swing. Obama’s policy of refusing PAC and lobbyist money should make it easy for him to attack McCain who seems to be violating some of his own campaign ethics. It should be an interesting Fall.

Obama takes on Bush-McCain in Montana

This is not your father's Democratic nominee:



Barack continues to demonstrate that he will punch back hard and attack the status quo at every turn!

Top 10 Reasons Obama Defeated Clinton for the Democratic Nomination

By Robert Creamer for the Huffington Post:

Now that the outcome of the battle for the Democratic nomination has been settled beyond a reasonable doubt, it's worth looking systematically at the major factors that gave victory to Obama. After all, fifteen months ago, conventional wisdom viewed Obama as an audacious long shot. The very idea of a first-term African American senator with a name like Barack Obama defeating the vaunted Clinton machine seemed preposterous.

Here are my Top Ten reasons why lightning struck in the contest for the 2008 Democratic nomination (apologies to David Letterman):

#10. Great Team. Obama assembled a great team that could work together. He stayed away from lobbyist insiders like Clinton's Mark Penn or McCain's Charlie Black, and choose political professionals who are committed to progressive values like David Plouffe, David Axelrod, Steve Hildebrand and Paul Tewes. From the first he insisted on one key rule: no drama. There was little of the infighting and division in the Obama operation that ate away at the Clinton campaign. Clinton had many capable staffers and consultants, but Penn's divisive leadership style and failures as a strategist doomed the campaign organization to dysfunction. When the brilliant Geoff Garin was tapped to succeed Penn as Chief Strategist in April, it was simply too late.

#9. All-State Strategy. Mark Penn was convinced that Clinton could sew up the nomination by Super Tuesday focusing only on the big states. In fact, some have reported that he mistakenly believed that California had a "winner take all" primary. Obama's team hunted for delegates in every nook and cranny of America -- especially in the caucus states that Clinton really didn't contest. Obama ran an active, on-the-ground campaign in every contest, from California to Guam. As a consequence, as one anonymous Clinton insider reports, Clinton lost the nomination in February after Obama ran the table in 11 straight states.

#8. No Plan B. The Clinton campaign had no fall-back plan when it failed to capture the nomination on February 5. There was no money, no organization and no plan to contest the states that lie in the land beyond Super Tuesday.

#7. Excellence in Execution: Great Field. Obama ran the best field operation in American political history -- particularly in the all important Iowa Caucuses. His campaign left no stone unturned, or a vote on the table, in any state. It opened offices everywhere, hired and trained great staff, and managed through simple, streamlined structures. It would have been easy for Obama to squander the massive influx of volunteers who were mobilized through his inspirational message. But the campaign developed structures to integrate and effectively use volunteers, both on the ground and through the Internet. In particular, it developed highly sophisticated new Internet tools to allow volunteers around the country to participate meaningfully in voter ID and get out the vote operations.

#6. Explosive Obama Fundraising. Obama's ability to compete everywhere, to build great field structures and to out-communicate Clinton in the paid media rested squarely on the massive fundraising operation. Obama's traditional fundraising program ended up matching the vaunted Clinton fundraising machine. But the newly developed Internet operation provided a massive advantage. So far Obama has recruited over one-and-a-half-million donors. In other words, by the time the primary season ends, almost one of every ten Obama primary voters (so far there have been 16.3 million) will have made a financial contribution to his campaign. That is beyond unprecedented.

#5. Obama Out-Communicated Clinton Using One Consistent Message. Obama's message has been consistent from Day One. Clinton lurched from "experienced insider" to "populist outsider" from Margaret Thatcher-like "Iron Lady" to a "victim being bullied." And of course, Obama's huge small-donor-driven fundraising advantage gave him the ability to out-communicate her in the paid media -- often by a factor of two-to-one.

#4. Hope and Inspiration trumped Fear and Anger. A core element of that Obama message has always been hope and inspiration. Early on, John Edwards hit an important cord of populist anger that is critical to any successful Democratic campaign. Right now especially, people want their leaders to be populist outsiders not "competent" insiders. But Edwards was unable to resolve that anger into hope. Obama touched the anger but also held out possibility. When Hillary "found her voice" as the fighting populist at the end of the campaign, she tapped into anger as well. She didn't hesitate to play the fear card -- both when it came to foreign policy, and by channeling the Republican frame that "elitist professional types" are trying to destroy your way of life. But she never managed to inspire and resolve that fear into hope.

Inspiration is the one political message that simultaneously persuades swing voters and motivates mobilizable voters who rarely come to the polls. The North Carolina landslide provided a striking example of how inspiration can generate massive mobilization at the same time it appeals to independent swing voters.

#3. Unity Trumped Division. Obama showed that appeals to division -- whether from elements that stirred up fear that a "black candidate couldn't win" -- or from his former pastor -- could be overcome by America's overwhelming hunger for unity. Americans -- and particularly young Americans -- are sick of Republican appeals based on the things that divide us, particularly race. It isn't 1988 anymore. A whole generation has passed from the scene and been replaced by young people who simply don't get the passions that allowed the fear of "Willie Horton" to decide the 1988 presidential race.

#2. Change Trumped Experience. Clinton Chief Strategist Mark Penn's fundamental strategic error was to position Clinton as the "Experience" candidate, when America desperately wanted change. Eighty percent of the voters think America is on the wrong track. They want change in general -- and most importantly, they want change in the way special interests dominate Washington. Mark Penn, the consummate lobbyist-insider himself embodied the very thing people believe is wrong in Washington. It's no wonder he made this catastrophic strategic blunder.

#1. Obama is an Extraordinary Candidate. Inspirational, articulate, brilliant, funny, attractive and naturally empathetic -- his history as a community organizer, his experience abroad, his beautiful family, accomplished wife, and adorable kids: Obama is the kind of candidate any campaign manager would want in any year. But he is perfect for this year. While the Clintons represented the Bridge to the 21st Century, Obama is the 21st century. His own, multi-cultural story is the future of America. As the campaign tested him, he showed he was cool, deliberate and effective under fire.

In the end, people vote for people. Campaigns are ultimately about the qualities of candidates --about whether or not people want them to be their leaders. Potentially, Barack Obama could become an historic, transformational leader. But John McCain has many qualities that are attractive to swing voters as well. Nothing is preordained. Now it will be up to every Democrat, every Progressive, to take advantage of this historic opportunity to make Barack Obama the American President who leads the world into a new progressive era of unprecedented possibility.

Your Voice, Your Vote

Jason Baskin, the man who created this work asked me to post it and after seeing it, I was happy to oblige! Brilliant!

Obamacans

Perhaps it isn't really that rare for a Republican to cross over and vote for a Democratic candidate for president, but when high profile Republicans start publicly endorsing a Democrat, then something must be in the air. We know former Rhode Island Republican Senator Lincoln Chafee has endorsed Obama, but he isn't alone. Point of fact, there is a national organization called Republicans for Obama that has chapters in every state in the Union.

Earlier this year, the granddaughter of two-term Republican president Dwight Eisenhower, Susan Eisenhower came out for Obama. Last week, Eisenhower said, "I am proud to be an Eisenhower Republican. But my wing of the party, fiscally conservative and socially progressive, is not represented by the Republican party today.

"It has become a socially conservative and fiscally reckless party. And at the same time, there is a candidate in Barack Obama who is enormously appealing. He has the temperament and attitude that can bring together different sides which is tremendously important for this country right now."

Last month, it was revealed that her sister-in-law, Julie Nixon Eisenhower - youngest daughter of Richard Nixon - has also be supporting Obama, although not publicly. Nixon's daughter has contributed the maximum amount of $2300 to Obama's campaign. And while her sister Tricia has donated to John McCain, her husband David - Susan's brother - and the other two Eisenhower siblings (four total) have all been giving to Obama.

One has to wonder about the dinner talk at some political family tables. While the governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, is endorsing John McCain, his wife and some of his in-laws are firmly in the Obama camp.

Julie Nixon is also the co-chair of the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Birthplace Foundation, so some of the political discussions there have to be interesting as well.

With these types of people supporting Obama, one has to wonder how much influence their support will carry with friends and other members of the GOP who find this out. We know Obama has the ability to bridge the widening chasm that has ripped this country over the past two decades. It's time to get the man in the White House so the healing can begin.

The Indiana campaign is over

While on the surface, it may look like Indiana's results were a win for Hillary Clinton, the big picture shows Sen. Obama on the verge of total victory. With only 22,000 votes separating the two candidates, Indiana was a tie, basically splitting the delegates in half. However, Obama won North Carolina by more than 200,000 votes, nearly ten times the Indiana split.

Hillary Clinton is on the ropes. Obama now has more delegates and popular vote than Senator Clinton - even if you factor in Michigan and Florida. He has more money on hand and a fund-raising machine that seems to bring more money in at will. In addition, his ground force of volunteers easily dwarfs that of Senator Clinton.

Obama has weathered the storm that hit over the past few weeks and is now an even stronger campaigner than before. The Rev. Wright controversy, the bitter comments, the Pennsylvania primary, and even the frackin' flag pin resurrection only ended up being a slight bump on the road to the nomination. You will now witness a trickle of the more timid super delegates coming out for Obama. The campaign is a virtual lock for the Indiana Senator. Last night I heard former Allen County Democratic chair, Kevin Knuth - a Hillary supporter - say he doesn't see how she can continue after last evening's stunning defeat in North Carolina.

Speaking of Allen County, our AC4O (Allen County For Obama) team certain did its job. Obama won Allen County by over 9000 votes, taking every precinct in the county, including Republican stronghold Aboite. The AC4O group has worked hard in this part of the state and was truly a well oiled machine. My hat goes off to my fellow AC4O team members. A more dedicated, enthusiastic, and motivated team you could not ask for. A special shout out to Sofia Rodriguez who got the AC4o ball rolling. She is a powerful force to reckon with.

Last evening, many of us gathered at La Margarita here in Fort Wayne to celebrate our tiny victory for the campaign. There were shouts of joy and pride as we watched the percentage between the two candidates shrink before our eyes - 12 points dropped to 10. 10 quickly moved to 8. This continued until the slim margin of two percentage points was reached. Below are a few shots taken during last evening's celebration.

Who Will Tell The People?

Who Will Tell The People?
By Thomas L. Friedman

Published: May 4, 2008

Traveling the country these past five months while writing a book, I’ve had my own opportunity to take the pulse, far from the campaign crowds. My own totally unscientific polling has left me feeling that if there is one overwhelming hunger in our country today it’s this: People want to do nation-building. They really do. But they want to do nation-building in America.

They are not only tired of nation-building in Iraq and in Afghanistan, with so little to show for it. They sense something deeper — that we’re just not that strong anymore. We’re borrowing money to shore up our banks from city-states called Dubai and Singapore. Our generals regularly tell us that Iran is subverting our efforts in Iraq, but they do nothing about it because we have no leverage — as long as our forces are pinned down in Baghdad and our economy is pinned to Middle East oil.

Our president’s latest energy initiative was to go to Saudi Arabia and beg King Abdullah to give us a little relief on gasoline prices. I guess there was some justice in that. When you, the president, after 9/11, tell the country to go shopping instead of buckling down to break our addiction to oil, it ends with you, the president, shopping the world for discount gasoline.

We are not as powerful as we used to be because over the past three decades, the Asian values of our parents’ generation — work hard, study, save, invest, live within your means — have given way to subprime values: “You can have the American dream — a house — with no money down and no payments for two years.”

That’s why Donald Rumsfeld’s infamous defense of why he did not originally send more troops to Iraq is the mantra of our times: “You go to war with the army you have.” Hey, you march into the future with the country you have — not the one that you need, not the one you want, not the best you could have.

A few weeks ago, my wife and I flew from New York’s Kennedy Airport to Singapore. In J.F.K.’s waiting lounge we could barely find a place to sit. Eighteen hours later, we landed at Singapore’s ultramodern airport, with free Internet portals and children’s play zones throughout. We felt, as we have before, like we had just flown from the Flintstones to the Jetsons. If all Americans could compare Berlin’s luxurious central train station today with the grimy, decrepit Penn Station in New York City, they would swear we were the ones who lost World War II.

How could this be? We are a great power. How could we be borrowing money from Singapore? Maybe it’s because Singapore is investing billions of dollars, from its own savings, into infrastructure and scientific research to attract the world’s best talent — including Americans.

And us? Harvard’s president, Drew Faust, just told a Senate hearing that cutbacks in government research funds were resulting in “downsized labs, layoffs of post docs, slipping morale and more conservative science that shies away from the big research questions.” Today, she added, “China, India, Singapore ... have adopted biomedical research and the building of biotechnology clusters as national goals. Suddenly, those who train in America have significant options elsewhere.”

Much nonsense has been written about how Hillary Clinton is “toughening up” Barack Obama so he’ll be tough enough to withstand Republican attacks. Sorry, we don’t need a president who is tough enough to withstand the lies of his opponents. We need a president who is tough enough to tell the truth to the American people. Any one of the candidates can answer the Red Phone at 3 a.m. in the White House bedroom. I’m voting for the one who can talk straight to the American people on national TV — at 8 p.m. — from the White House East Room.

Who will tell the people? We are not who we think we are. We are living on borrowed time and borrowed dimes. We still have all the potential for greatness, but only if we get back to work on our country.

I don’t know if Barack Obama can lead that, but the notion that the idealism he has inspired in so many young people doesn’t matter is dead wrong. “Of course, hope alone is not enough,” says Tim Shriver, chairman of Special Olympics, “but it’s not trivial. It’s not trivial to inspire people to want to get up and do something with someone else.”

It is especially not trivial now, because millions of Americans are dying to be enlisted — enlisted to fix education, enlisted to research renewable energy, enlisted to repair our infrastructure, enlisted to help others. Look at the kids lining up to join Teach for America. They want our country to matter again. They want it to be about building wealth and dignity — big profits and big purposes. When we just do one, we are less than the sum of our parts. When we do both, said Shriver, “no one can touch us.”

Top Ten surprising facts about Barack Obama

Life's a picnic . . .

I'm certain Robert will blog about this as well, but here's my account of the day. . .

Yesterday I decided to bite the bullet and till and sod the backyard. About half-way through my day I received a phone call from Obama headquarters asking if I could provide food for the Obama family picnic on Sunday. I agreed and volunteered to be at the pavilion by 12:30 with pasta salad for 100 people. I was working in the yard until about 8:00 came in and did a quick cleaning for the Obama volunteers we were housing this weekend and and sat down for a few minutes to chat with the ladies from Michigan who had come to "Knock for Barack". I headed to the grocery shortly after 10:30 and was still boiling noodles at 2:00 am.

Today we were at the park at 12:30 to drop the food and then we volunteered for the sign-up table. Shortly after we were let into the venue, I was standing near the front with McCartney and a gentleman from the campaign came over and said, "Mrs. Rouse, can I have you stand here with this staffer we have something special for you to do." After finding Robert and the boys, they joined me and the staffer informed us that they would like us to sit at the tables with Senator Obama in be in the line of the cameras. I nearly peed. We were ushered into the sectioned off area and given instructions as to how we were to behave. We could not leave the area since we were inside of the secret service perimeter so we had to just wait and wait. The line for the buffet wrapped right around where we were and we saw lots of friends and acquaintances. It was a really nice day and wonderful to see so many show up in support of Barack Obama, Michelle and the kids.

Shortly before they arrived, the staffer asked if McCartney and I would move to the table that the Senator and his family would be eating at. I was nervous and excited. The next first family showed up and greeted the crowd and then the Senator spoke. He then worked the rope line and went over to the grassy area. He then came back over to our area, greeted Robert and shook his hand. He posed for a picture for us and as I was taking it Harrison ran over and hugged the Senator's knees. It was so sweet!

The Senator immediately reached down and picked Harrison up as I had tears in my eyes, knowing my kids were part of history. He spoke to Harrison and then to McCartney and told her she had a beautiful dress and pretty toenails. (they were blue and red) Dustin told him he was pleased to meet him. He shook my hand and then turned to Robert and said, "What is it that I can do for you?" Amazing. Robert told him about Dustin's Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and that he was a stay at home dad due to Dustin's "hidden disability. He told him that I was in Early Childhood Education (which he actually spoke about during his speech) He commended us on our efforts and rubbed the kids on the head, wished Harrison a happy birthday Wednesday and was on his way. All in all he spent about 5 minutes with our family. Amazing!

It was a fantastic day! One I will not soon forget. One I will relish when Barack is sitting in the White House in 8 short months. Check out these fabulous pictures. . .

The family while we were waiting. We had my mom praying for the kids behavior to be fantastic. Apparently the prayers for McCartney hadn't yet reached heaven. Check out the grumpiness.

There's a smile! It's about time. She did however get everything she wanted because we really didn't want a blow up. I did however have to threaten her with the secret service taking her away a few times.

Robert and the man of the hour. This was taken just as Harrison ran up to him and hugged his knees.

Harrison is thrilled. Can you tell? Directly behind me are about 2 dozen photographers snapping away. Boy, that man can sure smile.

You can tell he is the father of two girls. He was telling her that she had a beautiful dress on and that he liked her painted toenails. She was smitten.

Truly the only thing that stressed me out was the fact that as we left there were teenagers standing along Clinton Street right outside the pavilion carrying signs that said "Abortion Kills Children". I hate that it was attempted to make me feel ashamed to support this wonderful man because of his stance on legal abortions. My first reaction (and Robert's as well, who was up ahead of me) was to say, "You're right it does. So does war." Just because I don't believe in abortion and don't believe I would make that choice for me, it is legal and I support the right to choose. I hate that these people look at anyone who supports Obama as "baby killers". It makes me sick. Enough on that subject. I'm getting grumpy on my wonderful day. . .

Obama family in Fort Wayne

Join the Obama family at a picnic in Fort Wayne on Sunday, May 4th.
Fort Wayne Family Picnic with the Obama Family

Headwaters Park
Pavilion
Fort Wayne, IN

Sunday, May 4th, 2008
Doors Open: 2:30 p.m.
Program Begins: 4:30 p.m.

The event is free and open to the public. Admission is based on a first come, first serve basis. Limited free parking is available in the lot adjacent to the pavilion; carpools are encouraged.

For security reasons, do not bring bags and limit personal items. No signs or banners are permitted.

Obama Office Opens in Aboite

The Barack Obama Campaign has opened a satellite office in Aboite Township. The office is located in The Shoppes at Scott Road at the corner of Scott Road and Illinois Road. Their address is 10369 Illinois Road. Stop by and see them today and help out in any way you can!

We'd rather switch than have a fight

Hoosier Super Delegates back Obama

Two prominent Hoosier Super Delegates have thrown their support behind Barack Obama. Rep. Baron Hill, who represents a crucial swing district in Indiana, endorsed the Illinois Senator yesterday and later today, former DNC chair, Joe Andrew, will announce he is switching from Hillary Clinton to Barack Obama.

According to an AP story:

"I am convinced that the primary process has devolved to the point that it's now bad for the Democratic Party," Andrew said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

Bill Clinton appointed Andrew chairman of the DNC near the end of his presidency, and Andrew endorsed the former first lady last year on the day she declared her candidacy for the White House.

Andrew said in his letter that he is switching his support because "a vote for Hillary Clinton is a vote to continue this process, and a vote to continue this process is a vote that assists (Republican) John McCain."

"While I was hopeful that a long, contested primary season would invigorate our party, the polls show that the tone and temperature of the race is now hurting us," Andrew wrote. "John McCain, without doing much of anything, is now competitive against both of our remaining candidates. We are doing his work for him and distracting Americans from the issues that really affect all of our lives."

Andrew said the Obama campaign never asked him to switch his support, but he decided to do so after watching Obama's handling of two issues in recent days. He said Obama took the principled stand in opposing a summer gas tax holiday that both Clinton and McCain supported, even though it would have been easier politically to back it. And he said he was impressed with Obama's handling of the controversy surrounding his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

As for Hill, the AP said:

Hill said in a statement that some had advised him to not choose yet between Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton, but decided he could not wait.

‘‘We cannot continue to pursue the same politics of personal destruction we have engaged in for a generation,’’ Hill said. ‘‘I believe Senator Obama has the capability to change the tone and tenor of politics in Washington. I believe that he can and will work with both parties and elevate the level of public discourse.’’

Hill joins Rep. Andre Carson of Indianapolis in endorsing Obama. The state’s three other Democratic congressmen have not backed either candidate, while Sen. Evan Bayh is supporting Clinton.

Hill’s endorsement give Obama the backing of four Indiana superdelegates to five supporting Clinton. Those superdelegates are party leaders and elected officials who are free to vote as they choose at the Democratic convention.

Both of these endorsements come at a crucial time in advance of Tuesday's Indiana primary.