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CBS) Since Barack Obama was elected the 44th president of the United States 12 days ago, he has largely remained out of sight, getting high-level government briefings and conferring with his transition team. But he surfaced on Friday afternoon in Chicago, alongside his wife Michelle to give 60 Minutes his first post-election interview.

It covers a wide range of subjects including the economy, the ailing automobile industry, the government’s $700 billion bailout program, their visit to the White House, the emotions of election night and the quest for a family dog. You’ll hear all of it. But we begin with the president-elect and his thoughts about the new job.

Steve Kroft: So here we are.

President-elect Barack Obama: Here we are.

Kroft: How’s your life changed in the last ten days?

Mr. Obama: Well, I tell you what, there seem to be more people hovering around me. That’s for sure. And, on the other hand, I’m sleeping in my own bed over the last ten days, which is quite a treat. Michelle always wakes up earlier than I do. So listen to her roaming around and having the girls come in and, you know, jump in your bed. It’s a great feeling. Yeah.

Kroft: Has this been easier than the campaign trail?

Mr. Obama: Well, it’s different. I think that during the campaign it is just a constant frenetic, forward momentum. Here, I’m stationary. But the issues come to you. And we’ve got a lot of work to do. We’ve got a lot of problems, a lot of big challenges.

TRANSCRIPT

Maya Soetoro-Ng was not in Chicago with her brother on election night even though he offered to fly the family into the Windy City for the results.  Maya knew exactly where she wanted to be on the night that millions of Americans will remember as a pivotable turning point in our nation’s history.

Maya Soetoro-Ng could have accepted her brother’s invitation to be at his side on Election Night in Chicago. But Barack Obama’s sister knew where she belonged.

As she had for much of the past eight years, Soetoro-Ng stayed in the two-bedroom apartment on Beretania Street where she had taken care of their maternal grandmother, Madelyn Dunham.

Dunham had died of cancer just two nights before at the age of 86, with Soetoro-Ng at her side. Then, on the day that Obama was elected as America’s first black president, Dunham’s koa urn arrived and Soetoro-Ng surrounded it with pictures of Dunham’s late daughter, Stanley Ann Dunham, Dunham’s grandchildren and her great-grandchildren, “all of us who benefited so much from her steady voice and hand,” Soetoro-Ng wrote

Maya also gives some insight into the strength and wonderful sense of humor of their grandmother Madelyn Dunham

Dunham, whom Obama called “Toot” after the Hawaiian word for grandparent, tutu, never showed self-pity or fear as she faced the end of her life, Soetoro-Ng wrote.

But Dunham could be wickedly funny.

“When she saw the number of flowers that had been sent to her,” Soetoro-Ng wrote, “she said, ‘Oh my … with all of this hullabaloo, it’s going to be embarrassing if I DON’T die.’ I gave her a chuckle and of course told her that I wouldn’t at all mind such an embarrassment, and then I invited her to stay and dance with me into the new year. She couldn’t stay, but she certainly tried, and defied expectations again and again.”

Maya gave permission to her friends to release the letter to the press.  Read the whole letter for yourself. 

“President-elect Barack Obama has pledged to change the way Washington works and curb the influence of lobbyists,” said top transition aid John Podesta.  “[I]f someone has lobbied in the last 12 months, they are prohibited from working in the fields of policy on which they lobbied” is a statement released by the Transition office yesterday.

“President-elect Barack Obama has pledged to change the way Washington works and curb the influence of lobbyists,” said Podesta in another statement. 

“During the campaign, federal lobbyists could not contribute to or raise money for the campaign…the president-elect is taking those commitments even further by announcing the strictest, and most far reaching ethics rules of any transition team in history.”

Looks like President-elect Obama has already begun to keep his campaign promises.

PROGRESS

until the first polls open.  We get one chance, one opportunity, one moment, to make history by ensuring that Sen. Barack Obama is elected President of the United States of America.  We are prepared and have done all the ground work, now we have to deliver.  The Get Out The Vote element of this campaign is the most important.   Yesterday we had 13,000 people on the streets of Virginia.  They  knocked on 500,000 doors.  All the other battleground states need to step up to keep up.  Send me information on the ground game in your state. How can you help….what can you do…..phonebank?  Canvass for Obama in the battleground  state of Virginia and turn Virginia blue for the first time in 44 years!  Help at least five people  get to the polls on Election Day.  Lend your skills as an attorney to Obama’s voter protection program.  Donate to this built from the ground up campaign.  This is the last stretch, do not take anything for granted, ignore the polls, help get out the vote.  Volunteer at your local Campaign For Change  office and help to Get Out The Vote today and tomorrow.   This is our time, this is our moment,  DO YOUR PART to make this happen.  www.Barack.Obama.com

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Transcript Below (with props to Dopeman).

Charles:

I was born in ‘22. I lived through the Great Depression. That’s the reason I’ve been a Democrat all my life, ’cause I saw what Roosevelt did when he first come into office. My mother would have lose her farm and we would’ve lose everything we had if it hadn’t have been for President Roosevelt elected to office.

Merideth:

Charles started volonteering with us here about 4 weeks ago now, it was right after his wife passed away. He’d been married to her for 69 years. And he has been helping us with the front desk, greeting folks, signing them in, making sure they feel welcome here, um, he’s just, he’s one of the most amazing people I’ve met on the campaign. he saw our raffle box that we had set up for every volunteer who came in to help us was able to submit a raffle ticket to be pulled at random and the next day was the day that we pulled out, we pulled the winner and I stuck my hand in the big box then swirled it around at random and pulled out Charles Alexander’s ticket and everyone was just in shock. Everyone said that if there is one one person out of Boulder County, out of Colorado could meet Barack, this was the guy that absolutely deserved it, um, and we told him the next day and he looked at us and he said ‘are you pulling my leg? Are you kidding me? I’ve never won anything in my life.’

Charles:

Oh that’s the greatest thing in my life, I tell ya, I never did think I would meet.. uh… someone going to be the president of the United States in my lifetime. He is such a lovely person, he is just the same in person as he is on tv. And uh, if he gets to be elected president it will be one of the greatest jobs this country’s people ever done for this country. to elect him president now, somebody who can unite the country back together. ‘Cause divided we will never go no place when we are divided.

Merideth:

He’s the type of person that gets me up out of bed every morning and keeps me going.

Charles:

My God, all these young people here, they are tomorrow’s future. I’m dying off. Everybody my age is dying off. Everybody. The next 4 or 5 years, I probably won’t be around. These young people are going to take the lead. That’s what I love about seeing all these young people in here volunteering ’cause they are all tomorrow’s future. They are my grandkids’ future and great great grandkids, the young people that you see here today. God knows that I see a bunch of them. They really are wonderful people. They’re just as friendly as they can be. They are real united people. And that’s what this country needs to be, 100% united. and I just think Barack Obama is the person that can do it.

There are exactly 10 days, 21 hours, 38 minutes, to the minute before the first polls open on November 4th. My question to all of you is….what are you doing to make history?  What will you tell your grandchildren that you contributed to this historic event?  Will you tell them that you phonebanked for Obama through his revolutionary Internet phonebanking tool?  Will you tell them that you canvassed for Obama in the battleground  state of Virginia and turned Virginia blue for the first time in 44 years?! Will you say that you helped get at least five people to the polls on Election Day?  Will you say that during this historic election you lent your skills as an attorney to Obama’s voter protection program?  Will you say that you donated to Obama’s historic, built from the ground up, campaign?  What exactly will you say that you did to help create this historic movement for change?  This is the last stretch, do not take anything for granted, regardless of what the polls say, it is up the you to put Sen. Barack Obama over the finish line.  Volunteer at your local Campaign For Change  office and help to Get Out The Vote on November 4th.  100 billion more registered voters mean nothing if people do not come out, with their patience, and VOTE.  Volunteer to entertain people who are waiting in line to vote….bring water or snacks to folks who are waiting in line to vote.  This is our opportunity to experience what they experienced in the Sixties, our opportunity to be a part of something so much bigger than ourselves, our opportunity to contribute to something so much more important than we ever thought it could be, our opportunity to return America to the shining beacon to the world that it once was.  This is our time, this is our moment,  DO YOUR PART to make this happen.  www.Barack.Obama.com

Expanded Access to Capital

Barack will unlock credit needed to keep small businesses growing by implementing a nationwide emergency lending facility for small businesses.

Provide Temporary Tax Relief

To stimulate investment and job growth and spark our long-term recovery, the Small Business Rescue Plan will provide temporary business tax incentives through 2009.

Eliminate Capital Gains Taxes

Barack’s plan will eliminate all capital gains taxes on investments made in small and start-up businesses, encouraging investment and innovation.

Cut or Freeze Taxes for 99% of Small Business Owners

To help individuals with small business income — including the country’s more than 20 million self-employed individuals — Barack will provide a $1,000 Making Work Pay tax credit to 95 percent of workers and their families, and freeze any tax increases for the remaining 4 percent.

Lower Health Care Costs and Ease the Health Care Burden

Barack will give small businesses new incentives, help cut costs, and improve efficiency for all firms to provide health care to their workers at an affordable rate.

Expand Opportunity for Small Businesses

Barack will put in place far-reaching reforms to expand the ability of women-, service-disabled veteran-, and minority-owned firms to compete in today’s marketplace

SEE FULL PLAN

Four-star General Colin Powell said that Sen. Barack Obama has the makings of becoming “an exceptional president” when he endorsed the Illinois senator on Sunday’s Meet the Press.  For those who are asking what this high profile foreign policy and military expert endorsement of Sen. Obama will do in terms of votes, Sen. Obama’s numbers increased today by two points in the Reuters/Cspan/Zogby daily tracking poll.  On Sunday before the endorsement the numbers were Obama 48 to McCain’s 45.  After Gen. Powell’s endorsement, Obama’s numbers bumped up 50 to McCain’s 44.  Sen. Obama also gained three points among Catholics (primarly white voters).  A shout out to Obama: Sen. Obama has built a very broad coalition of voters.  The Illinois senator enjoys 40% of the white vote (average for democratic candidates Clinton, Gore, Kerry), 95% of the black vote, and 70% of the latino vote.  His support in the asian community is also very significant.  He is a candidate that truly represents all Americans instead of a small part of it.  The Reuters?Cspan/Zogby poll is a three day tracking poll where the average of three days polling is given as the final result.  On Sunday alone, after the Powell endorsement, Sen. Obama’s tracking numbers jumped 10 points!  The numbers are in and the four-star General definitely made a difference.  General Powell has worked for Bush 41 and Bush 43 and is a very good friend of Sen. John McCain’s.  Therefore, for the General to come out and support Sen. Obama, his opposing party’s candidate, is a tremendous vote of confidence in Obama-Biden and more importantly a significant lack of confidence in a McCain-Palin administration.  General Powell said that Sen. McCain’s campaign is not good for the country or its reputation around the world.  The former Secretary of State went on to say that he is concerned about McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate.  The General believes that Palin is not qualified to be vice president.  Now I say to you, if Palin is not qualified to be vice president, she is certainly not qualified to be president should the recent concerns about McCain’s health be substantiated.  

One last thing.  General Powell made a really interesting point about allegations from the Right that Sen. Obama is proposing redistributing wealth through his tax policy.  To paraphrase, Powell said that all tax policy is about redistribution of wealth in some form because for the government to function it cost money.  Think about it this way, when the Republican party and its leaders Bush/McCain demand military actions in other regions of the world knowing that it will result in significant government expenditures and then demand deep tax cuts simultaneously for a small group of Americans in the highest tax bracket, this results in wealth redistribution from the middle class and the working poor to the rich.  So for republicans and McCain to call Sen. Obama tax policy wealth redistributing, they are for redistributing themselves but to a different socio-economic class…..the rich.

Barack Obama for President

Friday, October 17, 2008

THE NOMINATING process this year produced two unusually talented and qualified presidential candidates. There are few public figures we have respected more over the years than Sen. John McCain. Yet it is without ambivalence that we endorse Sen. Barack Obama for president.

Why Sen. Obama? 

Mr. Obama is a man of supple intelligence, with a nuanced grasp of complex issues and evident skill at conciliation and consensus-building. At home, we believe, he would respond to the economic crisis with a healthy respect for markets tempered by justified dismay over rising inequality and an understanding of the need for focused regulation. Abroad, the best evidence suggests that he would seek to maintain U.S. leadership and engagement, continue the fight against terrorists, and wage vigorous diplomacy on behalf of U.S. values and interests. Mr. Obama has the potential to become a great president. Given the enormous problems he would confront from his first day in office, and the damage wrought over the past eight years, we would settle for very good…..

……Mr. Obama’s temperament is unlike anything we’ve seen on the national stage in many years. He is deliberate but not indecisive; eloquent but a master of substance and detail; preternaturally confident but eager to hear opposing points of view. He has inspired millions of voters of diverse ages and races, no small thing in our often divided and cynical country. We think he is the right man for a perilous moment.

Why not Sen. McCain? 

But the stress of a campaign can reveal some essential truths, and the picture of Mr. McCain that emerged this year is far from reassuring. To pass his party’s tax-cut litmus test, he jettisoned his commitment to balanced budgets. He hasn’t come up with a coherent agenda, and at times he has seemed rash and impulsive. And we find no way to square his professed passion for America’s national security with his choice of a running mate who, no matter what her other strengths, is not prepared to be commander in chief.

The Independent vote is in and Sen. Barack Obama won last night by an even wider margin than he did in previous debates.  In a CNN poll of several hundred independent debate watchers, 57% of the independents said that Obama won the debate.  Only 31% said McCain won the debate.  In a CBS poll, 53% of uncommitted voters said that Obama won the debate while only 22% said that McCain won.  A Fox News focus group was asked which candidate won the debate and a “clear majority” of the group said that Obama won.  Finally, an MSNBC poll showed that Obama won the debate 20 to 7.  It looks as if this final debate was not the game-changer that McCain was hoping for. 

And by the way, Joe the plumber, who makes over a quarter million dollars a year, is not your average Joe.  To compare this plumber who is making over $250,000 a year to Joe sixpack or your average Joe who makes under $50,000 a year is insulting to our intelligence.  The McCain campaign believes that because his name is Joe and he is a plumber that they can bamboozle voters into believing that this guy is your average American struggling to make ends meet in this floundering economy.  Well Joe is quarter millionaire Joe.  Yes, Joe who makes more than 95% of Americans will have to pay the same tax percentage that was paid by that tax bracket during the Clinton administration……you remember, when the economy was flourishing.  The amazing irony, as highlighted by Sen. Obama, is that had Joe the plumber been receiving the tax cuts for the middle class that Obama proposes when Joe was working 12-hour days and trying to save enough money to buy his plumbing business, Joe the plumber could have bought his plumbing business alot sooner than he has under the Bush-McCain tax plan.

The topic of tonight’s debate is the economy, the economy, the economy.  Not exactly Sen. McCain’s strong point.  Thus Sen. Obama should be prepared for Sen. McCain to raise several distractions.  This is McCain’s last stand and he is desperate to change the subject.  Therefore, as far as the McCain campaign is concerned, nothing is off the table. Obama should expect McCain to employ the politics of hate and whatever else he comes up with in an attempt to change the subject and appeal to the worse part of the human spirit.  McCain has already said that he plans to bring up the William Ayers thing to Obama’s face tonight.  Unlike prior debates, the candidates will be sitting at a table facing each other with Bob Schieffer moderating.  Both candidates should be on their toes because Schieffer plans to get specifics. 

Heaven forbid McCain should have a real plan for the economy…way to much to ask for.

Obama Campaign’s Response to McCain’s ACORN LetterSeptember 23, 2008

Honorable John C. Danforth

Honorable Warren B. Rudman

McCain-Palin 2008

P.O. Box 16118

Arlington , VA 22215

Dear Senator Danforth and Senator Rudman:

           We have received your letter of September 15, 2008, informing us of the formation of what you call the “Honest and Open Election Committee” by the McCain-Palin Campaign.

            However attractively labeled, this seems a starkly political maneuver to deflect attention from the reality of the suppression strategies pursued by national,state and Republican party committees.  This has been the shameful history of the party from the Goldwater “Operation Eagle Eye” program to the present day—a history replete with instances of systematically planned and executed programs to block access to the vote for targeted communities of voters.

           In 2004, the Republican Party, on the eve of the general election, mounted challenges to tens of thousands of voters in Nevada, Ohio and Wisconsin based on “caging lists,” that is, lists of returned mailers or based on similar information providing no legitimate grounds whatsoever for such challenges.  None of these challenges, to our knowledge, was upheld and accusations of voter fraud by national Republican Party leaders were proven utterly baseless.

           Now,in 2008, the Republican Party again appears determined to engage in tactics and strategies to deny the right to vote to qualified citizens:

·        In Michigan, the chairman of Macomb County Republican Party has threatened to use lists of persons whose homes have been foreclosed to challenge those persons at the polls.  Only after public exposure, did he deny that this was the plan for Macomb County, and this matter is now before the federal district court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

·        In Florida, the RNC has mailed non-forwardable letters to Democratic voters asking them to “confirm” their party affiliation as Republican—thereby raising doubts about their registration status and creating the basis for possible challenge lists.  Even top Republican election officials in Florida, including the Secretary of State,have publicly condemned this tactic.

·        In Wisconsin, the Republican Attorney General, who serves as co-chair of the McCain-Palin campaign in the state, has filed suit challenging the refusal of the state’s own election administration authorities to throw thousands of voters off the rolls based on dubious and impractical matches of identifying information.

·        In Ohio, Republicans are challenging the decision of the Secretary of State to allow first-time voters to obtain an absentee ballot at the time they register even though the law clearly affords this right.

Manifestly, the confusion,uncertainty, deprivations of rights and interference with efficient election administration created by these tactics, and similar ones that the Republican Party has used in recent election cycles, cannot be effectively addressed by the creation late in the day of “committees” with gloriously self-serving names. Rather, the best way to address them is for responsible Republican leaders like both of you to speak out, loudly and forcefully, to condemn these tactics, to insist that they be shut down once and for all and then to make sure that they are.

   This is what we would hope that you could accomplish.  If your concern truly lies with ‘Honest and Open Elections”, then your work is properly and effectively begins at home–with the Republican operatives who are planning and running these suppressive programs and who are being directed in these activities by the same national McCain and party leadership that recruited you to this “Committee”.

Sincerely yours,

David Plouffe,

Campaign Manager, Obama for America

• Job Creation: A New American Jobs Tax Credit. Obama is calling for a temporary tax credit for firms that create new jobs in the United States over the next two years.
• Relief to Families: Penalty-Free Withdrawals from IRAs and 401(k)s in 2008 and 2009. Obama is calling for new legislation to allow families to withdraw 15% of their retirement savings – up to a maximum of $10,000 – without facing a tax-penalty this year (including retroactively) and next year
• Relief to Homeowners: 90 day foreclosure moratorium for homeowners that are acting in good faith. Financial institutions that participate in the Treasury’s financial rescue plan should be required to adhere to a homeowners code of conduct, including a 90-day foreclosure moratorium for any homeowners living in their homes that are making good faith efforts pay their mortgages.
• Responding to the Financial Crisis: A Lending Facility to Address the Credit Crisis for States and Localities. Obama is calling on the Federal Reserve and the Treasury to work to establish a facility to lend to state and municipal governments, similar to the steps the Fed recently took to provide liquidity to the commercial paper market.

Remarks of Senator Barack Obama
“A Rescue Plan for the Middle-Class”
As Prepared for Delivery
Monday, October 13th, 2008
Toledo, Ohio

EXCERPT 

We can’t wait to help workers and families and communities who are struggling right now – who don’t know if their job or their retirement will be there tomorrow; who don’t know if next week’s paycheck will cover this month’s bills.  We need to pass an economic rescue plan for the middle-class and we need to do it now.  Today I’m proposing a number of steps that we should take immediately to stabilize our financial system, provide relief to families and communities, and help struggling homeowners.  It’s a plan that begins with one word that’s on everyone’s mind, and it’s spelled J-O-B-S. 

We’ve already lost three-quarters of a million jobs this year, and some experts say that unemployment may rise to 8% by the end of next year.  We can’t wait until then to start creating new jobs.  That’s why I’m proposing to give our businesses a new American jobs tax credit for each new employee they hire here in the United States over the next two years. 

We will also save one million jobs by creating a Jobs and Growth Fund that will provide money to states and local communities so that they can move forward with projects to rebuild and repair our roads, our bridges, and our schools.  A lot of these projects and these jobs are at risk right now because of budget shortfalls, but this fund will make sure they continue. 

…At a time when the ups and downs of the stock market have rarely been so unpredictable and dramatic, we also need to give families and retirees more flexibility and security when it comes to their retirement savings.  …Since so many Americans will be struggling to pay the bills over the next year, I propose that we allow every family to withdraw up to 15% from their IRA or 401(k) – up to a maximum of $10,000 – without any fine or penalty throughout 2009.  This will help families get through this crisis without being forced to make painful choices like selling their homes or not sending their kids to college.

…For those Americans in danger of losing their homes, today I’m also proposing a three-month moratorium on foreclosures.  If you are a bank or lender that is getting money from the rescue plan that passed Congress, and your customers are making a good-faith effort to make their mortgage payments and re-negotiate their mortgages, you will not be able to foreclose on their home for three months.  We need to give people the breathing room they need to get back on their feet. 

…It also means promoting a new ethic of responsibility.  Part of the reason this crisis occurred is that everyone was living beyond their means – from Wall Street to Washington to even some on Main Street.  CEOs got greedy. Politicians spent money they didn’t have.  Lenders tricked people into buying home they couldn’t afford and some folks knew they couldn’t afford them and bought them anyway. 

We’ve lived through an era of easy money, in which we were allowed and even encouraged to spend without limits; to borrow instead of save.

Now, I know that in an age of declining wages and skyrocketing costs, for many folks this was not a choice but a necessity.  People have been forced to turn to credit cards and home equity loans to keep up, just like our government has borrowed from China and other creditors to help pay its bills.

But we now know how dangerous that can be.  Once we get past the present emergency, which requires immediate new investments, we have to break that cycle of debt. Our long-term future requires that we do what’s necessary to scale down our deficits, grow wages and encourage personal savings again.

It’s a serious challenge.  But we can do it if we act now, and if we act as one nation.  We can bring a new era of responsibility and accountability to Wall Street and to Washington.  We can put in place common-sense regulations to prevent a crisis like this from ever happening again.  We can make investments in the technology and innovation that will restore prosperity and lead to new jobs and a new economy for the 21st century.  We can restore a sense of fairness and balance that will give ever American a fair shot at the American dream.  And above all, we can restore confidence – confidence in America, confidence in our economy, and confidence in ourselves.

American Research Group has just released its West Virginia poll and Sen. Barack Obama is ahead 50% to 42%.  West Virginians were asked the following question:

If the general election were being held today between John McCain for president and Sarah Palin for vice president, the Republicans, and Barack Obama for president and Joe Biden for vice president, the Democrats, for whom would you vote - McCain and Palin, Obama and Biden (names rotated), or someone else?

A pool of 600 likely voters said that they would vote for Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Joe Biden to be the next president and vice president of the United States of America.  This is a bleak sign for Sen. John McCain.  Bush carried West Virginia both in 2000 and 2004.  If McCain is eight points behind in West Virginia, the paths to victory are dwindling even further for the Arizona senator.

Sen. John McCain has been goading Sen. Barack Obama for months to have a townhall meeting perceiving himself as some kind of master of this style of debate.  Well, last night McCain got his shot and guess what?  Obama took the school and the town in which it’s located.  CNN conducted a poll of independent  voters watching the debate and Obama won the debate 54% to 30%.  Fox News (yes that’s right), CNN, and CBS, independent viewer polls show that Obama won the debate. By the way Sen. McCain, yes the majority of voters have heard of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Voters in this election are a pretty smart group.  They are newly engaged, and to your detriment, they are paying attention to this presidential race.  So you saying that the average voter probably don’t know what is Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, is condescending and insulting to the average American’s intelligence.

As for McCain’s claim that he wants to buy up home mortgages and renegotiate those mortgages at the ”face” value of those homes….really?  Is that why McCain’s own party tried to prevent and intimidate the citizens of Michigan affected by foreclosures from voting?   Yea…somehow it is doubtful that McCain or his party has the interest of  citizens caught up in the subprime debacle at the top of their priority list.  And by the way…this is a proposal that has already been passed by Congress and is existing law.  And guess what, Sen. Obama endorsed a similar, better idea two weeks ago and the proposal is included in the $700 billion dollar bailout package.  So McCain’s claim that it is his idea is completely false.  The a better proposal and law is already on the books and had McCain did a search on “the Google” he could have found out that information before claiming the bad idea as his own.   McCain has been in Washington for 26 years, where was all the concern or effort to help “put Americans back to work” during his 26 year tenure?  All of a sudden, now that he is running for President, McCain is a friend of the working class.  Sen. McCain is again trying to mislead the American people.  We do not trust you to do what you claim because of the history of you and your campaign misleading the public.  

As for McCain’s claim that we are sending $700 billion dollars a year to countries that do not like us very much…he repeats this false claim in most of his speeches regarding energy independence.  Factcheck.org had this to say:

“We’ve got to stop sending $700 billion a year to countries that don’t want us very – like us very much” ([McCain] actually used the figure three times in the debate.) He’s talking about what we spend importing oil, and he’s said the same thing at the last debate and numerous other times. At current oil prices, the correct figure is about $493 billion. About a third of that goes to Canada, Mexico and the United Kingdom, which were still on the friendly side of the ledger last time we looked.

Last night the Senate passed the Bailout bill 74-25.  Sen. Barack Obama, Sen. John McCain, and Sen. Joe Biden voted for the bailout rescue plan.  In total, 39 democrats, 34 Republicans, and 1 independent (Lieberman) voted in support of the Bill.  There will be a Main Street benefit by way of the defrosting of credit.  The Bill allegedly will significantly increase the availability of credit and prevent a deep recession.  In the last few weeks, consumers have noticed that it is more difficult to get credit for home loans, car loans, and other types of consumer and small business loans because banks are not lending.  Until banks are able recapitalize, the industry is holding on tight to the credit strings.  The hope is that the Bill will provide much needed stability to the financial markets.  When businesses cannot get loans to make payroll, employees lose their jobs or don’t get paid.  Consumers then stop spending money and consumer buying slows down resulting in states bringing in lower tax revenues.  The broader economy is then impacted.  It’s all interconnected.  One good thing and per Sen. Obama’s suggestion, the bill will raise the FDIC insured amount from $100,000 to $250,000.  If there was more time perhaps a better bill could be crafted but given the alleged urgency of the situation it is the best available remedy of the moment.  Today Congress will be whipping votes and there should be a second vote in the House of Representatives on Friday.

The following is a story from an Ohio resident who convinced a racist to vote for Sen. Barack Obama for president.  An African-American woman wearing an Obama t-shirt was approached by a Caucasian elderly woman while sitting on a bench in a state park in Ohio.  The woman then asked the African-American woman if she was voting for Obama and the AA woman answered in the affirmative.  The conversation then went as follows:

(caucasian woman): “It’s nothing against you,” she said, “but I think we’re not ready for a black President.”

(AA woman): I kept it light. “I’m ready!” I joked.  Then I said, “Barack Obama is so much more than ‘just our first black President.’” Then I went on to talk to her about Obama’s policies in general terms and to generally try to get her to think of him as something other than “a black president.”

She kind of hemmed and hawed. Finally I said, “If you were to suddenly fall into this lake (the running/walking trail is around a lake) and need mouth-to-mouth, and there was me, who knows CPR, and a white person who didn’t, would you rather me not give you mouth-to-mouth because I am black?”  

She thought about it for a really long minute! Yes, folks, she thought about it! Let me pause to say this woman must be REALLY racist if she could tell me, an African American Obama supporter, she wasn’t comfortable with a black man being President.

Finally she said, “I’d want you to save me. No doubt about it.”  

So then I said, “Well, our country is just like you would be if you’d fallen into the lake. It is in dire straights. And the only person who can save it, happens to be the black guy.  Do we really want to watch our entire future be jeopardized because of something like this?”

“I never thought about it like that,” she said.  ”That puts a new spin on it.”

Then she said, “But my friends will all think I have gone nuts if I tell them I will vote for Obama.”

I told her, “You don’t have to tell them who you are voting for. It’s like when you pray for people (I got the feeling she was also religious) you don’t have to tell people what prayer you’ve said on their behalf–but they will still get all the benefit.  If Obama wins,” I told her, “you will have made their lives better, whether they realize it or not.”

“You’re telling me to lie?” she said jokingly.

“Yep,” I said. “If that’s what is going to get you to vote for Obama!”

“You’re smart,” she said. “I think you just converted me.”

“I’m not as smart as Obama!” I told her.

For all the phonebankers and canvassers who have experienced this situation more than once.

Speaking at a rally in North Carolina on Sunday, Sen Obama gave his requirements for any bailout for the financial industry.  Bush appointed Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson seems to want Congress to sign a blank check for 700 billion dollars giving him full discretion to spend it anyway he chooses.  When asked on Meet the Press on Sunday as to whether he would curtail excessive CEO compensation, Paulson opined such a requirement may discourage companies from participating in the program.  Not so much.  Meanwhile he is asking for 5% of the gross national product to spend as he pleases.  Hasn’t he been at the helm this entire time and could have raised the alarm about the potential of this happening years ago…..now he wants the Americans to just trust that he will prudently spend 700 billion in the best interest of the the majority.  I think not.  So, Mr Paulson, you and the other republicans keep saying how this needs to be a “clean bill.”  Well, if by “clean bill” you mean no oversight and no safeguards and assistance for the American taxpayers/main street………you’re on something.  As for Mr. Paulson’s objectivity, one reader summed it up perfectly:

Reuters reports today that “The incoming Treasury secretary, Henry M. Paulson Jr., was awarded an $18.7 million cash bonus for half a year of work as the chief executive of the Goldman Sachs Group.” The massive bonus was, not surprisingly, approved by Goldman Sachs at the very same time Paulson was both CEO and Treasury Secretary designate. This raises a very simple question: What is Goldman Sachs buying with this brazen payoff to someone they knew was headed to one of the most powerful government posts in America?
 

Sen. Obama insists that the following conditions must be included in any financial industry bailout.

Excerpt from Sen. Barack Obama’s speech in North Carolina on Sunday Sept 21, 2008 

The era of greed and irresponsibility on Wall Street and in Washington has led us to a perilous moment. They said they wanted to let the market run free but instead they let it run wild. And now we are facing a financial crisis as profound as any we have faced since the Great Depression
 
But here’s the truth:
 
Regardless of how we got here, we’re here today.  And the circumstances we face require decisive action because your jobs, your savings, and your economic security are now at risk.
 
We must work quickly in a bipartisan fashion to resolve this crisis to avert an even broader economic catastrophe. But Washington also has to recognize that economic recovery requires that we act, not just to address the crisis on Wall Street, but also the crisis on Main Street and around kitchen tables across America.
 
As of now, the Bush Administration has only offered a concept with a staggering price tag, not a plan. Even if the U.S. Treasury recovers some or most of its investment over time, this initial outlay of up to $700 billion is sobering.  And in return for their support, the American people must be assured that the deal reflects the basic principles of transparency, fairness, and reform.

First, there must be no blank check when American taxpayers are on the hook for this much money.

Second, taxpayers shouldn’t be spending a dime to reward CEOs on Wall Street.

Third, taxpayers should be protected and should be able to recoup this investment.

Fourth, this plan has to help homeowners stay in their homes.

Fifth, this is a global crisis, and the United States must insist that other nations join us in helping secure the financial markets.

Sixth, we need to start putting in place the rules of the road I’ve been calling for for years to prevent this from ever happening again.

And finally, this plan can’t just be a plan for Wall Street, it has to be a plan for Main Street.  We have to come together, as Democrats and Republicans, to pass a stimulus plan that will put money in the pockets of working families, save jobs, and prevent painful budget cuts and tax hikes in our states.

Remarks of Senator Barack ObamaConfronting an Economic Crisis As Prepared For Delivery

Tuesday, September 16th, 2008

Golden, Colorado

Over the last few days, we have seen clearly what’s at stake in this election. The news from Wall Street has shaken the American people’s faith in our economy. The situation with Lehman Brothers and other financial institutions is the latest in a wave of crises that have generated tremendous uncertainty about the future of our financial markets. This is a major threat to our economy and its ability to create good-paying jobs and help working Americans pay their bills, save for their future, and make their mortgage payments.

Since this turmoil began over a year ago, the housing market has collapsed. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had to be effectively taken over by the government. Three of America’s five largest investment banks failed or have been sold off in distress. Yesterday, Wall Street suffered its worst losses since just after 9/11. We are in the most serious financial crisis in generations. Yet Senator McCain stood up yesterday and said that the fundamentals of the economy are strong

A few hours later, his campaign sent him back out to clean up his remarks, and he tried to explain himself again this morning by saying that what he meant was that American workers are strong. But we know that Senator McCain meant what he said the first time, because he has said it over and over again throughout this campaign – no fewer than 16 times, according to one independent count. 

Now I certainly don’t fault Senator McCain for all of the problems we’re facing, but I do fault the economic philosophy he subscribes to. Because the truth is, what Senator McCain said yesterday fits with the same economic philosophy that he’s had for 26 years. It’s the philosophy that says we should give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down. It’s the philosophy that says even common-sense regulations are unnecessary and unwise. It’s a philosophy that lets Washington lobbyists shred consumer protections and distort our economy so it works for the special interests instead of working people.

We’ve had this philosophy for eight years. We know the results. You feel it in your own lives. Jobs have disappeared, and peoples’ life savings have been put at risk. Millions of families face foreclosure, and millions more have seen their home values plummet. The cost of everything from gas to groceries to health care has gone up, while the dream of a college education for our kids and a secure and dignified retirement for our seniors is slipping away. These are the struggles that Americans are facing. This is the pain that has now trickled up.

So let’s be clear: what we’ve seen the last few days is nothing less than the final verdict on an economic philosophy that has completely failed. And I am running for President of the United States because the dreams of the American people must not be endangered any more. It’s time to put an end to a broken system in Washington that is breaking the American economy. It’s time for change that makes a real difference in your lives.

If you want to understand the difference between how Senator McCain and I would govern as President, you can start by taking a look at how we’ve responded to this crisis. Because Senator McCain’s approach was the same as the Bush Administration’s: support ideological policies that made the crisis more likely; do nothing as the crisis hits; and then scramble as the whole thing collapses. My approach has been to try to prevent this turmoil.   

In February of 2006, I introduced legislation to stop mortgage transactions that promoted fraud, risk or abuse. A year later, before the crisis hit, I warned Secretary Paulson and Chairman Bernanke about the risks of mounting foreclosures and urged them to bring together all the stakeholders to find solutions to the subprime mortgage meltdown. Senator McCain did nothing.

Last September, I stood up at NASDAQ and said it’s time to realize that we are in this together – that there is no dividing line between Wall Street and Main Street – and warned of a growing loss of trust in our capital markets. Months later, Senator McCain told a newspaper that he’d love to give them a solution to the mortgage crisis, “but” – he said – “I don’t know one.”

In January, I outlined a plan to help revive our faltering economy, which formed the basis for a bipartisan stimulus package that passed the Congress. Senator McCain used the crisis as an excuse to push a so-called stimulus plan that offered another huge and permanent corporate tax cut, including $4 billion for the big oil companies, but no immediate help for workers.

This March, in the wake of the Bear Stearns bailout, I called for a new, 21st century regulatory framework to restore accountability, transparency, and trust in our financial markets. Just a few weeks earlier, Senator McCain made it clear where he stands: “I’m always for less regulation,” he said, and referred to himself as “fundamentally a deregulator.”
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It is former Senator and McCain economic advisor Phil Gramm who is primarily responsible for the law that caused this economic meltdown.  Chair of the Senate Banking Committee at the time and acting under cover of darkness, then Sen. Phil Gramm pushed through a bill titled the Commodity Futures Modernization Act (CFMA).  Gramm did so right after the Bush v. Gore decision in 2000 when only financial industry lobbyists were paying attention in Washington.  Then Senator Gramm and the REPUBLICAN CONTROLLED CONGRESS secretly slid through the CFMA.  The bill deregulated swaps which is the primary reason for the biggest financial meltdown since the Depression.  Yes, it is the deregulated swaps and lack of oversight that are “at the heart of the subprime meltdown” according to Michael Greenberger, former director of the Commodities Futures Traders Commission division of trading and markets in the late 1990s.  Sen. McCain is a strong proponent of deregulation of the nation’s financial markets and it was that deregulation and “the smartest person [McCain] knows,” Phil Gramm, that is primarily responsible for this crisis.  Gramm, then Chairman of the Senate banking committee, routinely turned down SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt’s request for more funds to police the financial industry.  McCain now claims that he plans to clean up Wall Street but until yesterday the Arizona senator stood firmly behind the policies, (deregulation) that put Wall Street in its current state.  Gramm’s recklessness in the financial industry has not dulled his glow in McCain’s eyes.  Dubbed an “economic guru” by Sen. McCain, Gramm is still closely connected to the campaign. If McCain gets in the White House, you can bet that Phil Gramm policies will be the driving force in the financial industry.  The two senators have been close friends since they served together in the House in the 1980s.  McCain chaired Gramm’s failure of a presidential campaign and Gramm was McCain’s formal senior economic advisor until six weeks ago when he called America and its people “a nation of whiners.”  McCain’s entire presidential campaign staff is comprised of people like Gramm.  How can someone who admits to “not understand the economy” and surrounds himself with the very people who caused this problem in the first place possibly represent reform or bring reform for that matter?

Survey USA just released its poll results for Virginia today and though McCain had a post-convention Palin bounce, the Commonwealth is again moving towards Sen. Barack Obama for President.  In the state of Virginia Sen. Obama leads Sen. McCain 50% to 46%.  Keep up the GREAT work Virginia!! 

Virginia Men, Voters Age 50+, Independents, Take Another Look At Obama: In an election for President of the United States in Virginia today, 09/15/08, 7 weeks till votes are counted, Democrat Barack Obama defeats Republican John McCain 50% to 46%, according to this latest SurveyUSA poll conducted for WDBJ-TV in Roanoke, WJLA-TV in Washington DC, WTVR-TV in Richmond, and WJHL-TV in the Tri-Cities. Compared to an identical SurveyUSA poll released one week ago, immediately following the Republican National Convention, Obama is up 3 points; McCain is down 3. The movement solidifies Virginia place as America’s 2008 battleground. 

One week ago, McCain led among men by 11 points. Today, McCain and Obama tie. One week ago, McCain led among voters age 50+ by 14 points. Today, McCain leads by 1. One week ago, Obama led among lower income voters by 6 points. Today, Obama leads by 20. One week ago, McCain led among Independents by 21 points. Today, McCain leads by 4. 17% of Republicans today crossover to vote Democrat, up from 11% last week and 7% last month. 12% of Democrats cross over to vote Republican, compared with 10% in the two previous polls. Strikingly: week-on-week movement in the DC suburbs was to McCain; movement in the Shenandoah and Central VA was to Obama.

In Virginia, there is still no evidence that Sarah Palin is attracting women to the GOP ticket. McCain polled at 44% before he picked Palin, and at 43% in each of the two polls conducted after Palin was announced.