I want to talk to you about two very simple stories today. I think they illustrate something key about the primary choice facing the Democratic party.
In August of 2006, thousands of people gathered in the village of Kisumu in Western Kenya to welcome Senator Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama to the nation where Senator Obama's father was born and died and where his grandmother still lives.
In addition to visiting relatives and spreading goodwill, the Obamas had come to Africa with something in mind. They had a mobile HIV testing lab brought with them to Kisumu and, there, before the assembled thousands, Barack and Michelle were tested for HIV.
700 people die of AIDS-related illnesses in Kenya every day. 1.2 million of Kenya's 32 million people are infected with HIV. In Kisumu that ratio is one in five.
That is real.
And on that August day in 2006 Michelle and Barack decided to show those gathered in Kisumu that being tested is the right thing to do. As Senator Obama said that day:
"If you know your status, you can prevent illness," Obama, the only African-American in the Senate, told the crowd. "You can avoid passing it to your children and your wives."
Obama and his wife did not make public the results of their instant tests, but the senator said "we probably wouldn't be smiling" if the results were positive. Obama said the country's government has done a better job than many others in Africa of acknowledging the problem and discussing solutions. But people's reluctance to be tested has slowed progress.
That is leadership. That simple gesture will save lives.
That tells us something about what we can expect from Senator Barack Obama and his wife Michelle if we elect him President of the United States.
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I want to tell you one more story.
On May 1st, 2006 millions of Latino immigrants and their allies marched all over this nation in support of comprehensive immigration reform. 400,000 marched in Chicago alone. Only two sitting United States Senators stood with them that day. One was Senator Ted Kennedy. The other was Senator Barack Obama. He said later that week in a statement:
I think we need to recognize that if we are going to uphold the traditions of this country as a nation of immigrants, than we are going to have to deal with this issue in a way that reflects common sense and compassion.
The House of Representatives passed a bill that was extraordinarily punitive. It talked about border security and it made any undocumented worker in this country a felon; it also made people who potentially helped undocumented workers, for example, providing housing assistance or providing a domestic violence shelter potentially subject to a felony conviction.
It's that draconian measure that passed in the House that prompted these marches, but what started as a march of fear on the part of many undocumented workers, I think, has become a march for hope. People are hoping that they have an opportunity to legalize themselves in some fashion.
In the United States Senate there has been a bipartisan group, including myself, Ted Kennedy, John McCain, Chuck Hagel, Mel Martinez, Ken Salazar, Lindsey Graham and a number of others who've been trying to negotiate a comprehensive package that would include stronger border security, making sure that employers actually verify employment status through a tamper-proof employee-verification card, and creation of a pathway to citizenship - earned citizenship - for the 11 to 12 million people that are already here. The idea would be that those people, over the course of eleven years could earn their way to citizenship by paying a fine, paying their back taxes (if they owe any), staying out of trouble, learning English and so on.
Senator Barack Obama has pledged to take up this reform in his first year as President. Senator Clinton has not. In fact, Senator Clinton, representing New York, did not participate in the events of May 1st, 2006.
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I've tried to stay positive in the most egregious battles of the candidate wars because I have known that the more people learn about Barack Obama, as a man and a politician, about his policies, the more they respect his integrity (even where they disagree with him). And the more people know about Barack Obama the more they are willing not simply to vote for him, but, as I saw once again today, the more they are willing to go out and convince their neighbors to vote for him.
That is a powerful argument for Barack Obama in and of itself.
Today I met two couples with families (among dozens at an event) out canvassing their neighborhood with their children for Barack. (One of them is a kossack, copithorne, who wrote a diary about canvassing today.) Couples with children are busy people. Pushing strollers and leading four year olds is not the easiest thing to do when trying to Get Out the Vote.
But, given that, a couple with children knocking on your door to convince you to vote for Barack Obama is very persuasive.
Barack and Michelle Obama have a young family, too. Michelle and Barack speak eloquently about that. In fact, if we Democrats had won a small percentage more of the votes of families with children in 2004, John Kerry would be President today.
What I'd like to convey to you today is a very simple message.
Don't knock hope.
It's powerful. It's persuasive. It's pragmatic. It moves people to take action.
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To be frank, I have been shocked by the deep cynicism of the campaign run by Senator Clinton. I don't want to belabor this point, but let me say this, I'm a student of political rhetoric. I am deeply invested in how we persuade people to take action...how we change hearts and minds.
I recognize in the rhetoric of Senator Clinton a skill, a succinct incisiveness that reflects a brilliant mind and years serving as a corporate lawyer reading and preparing briefs.
However, let me offer an example of what I consider to be cynicism on Senator Clinton's part. At the last debate a 38-year old online questioner submitted a question to Senator Clinton noting that for her entire voting life there had always been either a Clinton or a Bush on her Presidential ballot and serving in the White House.
That's true for me, too. I'm 39.
In 1988 we elected George H.W. Bush.
In 1992 we elected Bill Clinton
In 1996 we elected Bill Clinton
In 2000 we elected George W. Bush
In 2004 we elected George W. Bush
How is it a good thing for our nation that the same two immediate families should hold sway over our political lives and the office of the president for so many years? How does Senator Clinton answer that question in the minds of voters?
Clinton's answer was brilliant, pithy and the "take away line" of the debate:
Clinton absolutely nailed it with her quip that "it took a Clinton to clean up after the first Bush, and it may take a Clinton to clean up after the second Bush."
-Chicago Sun Times
The only problem with that answer is that, like so many Clinton answers including those on the war in Iraq it's not really an answer at all. In fact, it exudes a cynicism that has emanated from the Clinton campaign from day one. It's a messy world, lower your expectations, don't expect your questions to get answered, don't look behind the curtain, don't buy anything from a guy 'selling hope', leave politics to the monied professionals, we know what we are doing.
If that's the rationale for your candidacy, if you think that's a sufficient answer to the complexities of the reservations we voters have about sending Bill and Hillary Clinton back to the White House, and what that would mean for those of us who want a fundamental change in our nation then you are not simply deeply cynical about the expectations Americans have of our leaders and our government but also unaware of the depths of our aspirations for a new day.
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Listen to what Michelle Obama said today in Los Angeles. She talked about hope, yes, but she also talked about how we citizens must ourselves come together and do the hard work that comes with hope, work on policy and persuasion, work in our communities. She talked about how we choose to come together not because of some rhetorical trick but because Barack Obama is willing to take a stand that makes him worth standing up for.
Now, that stand could be a simple gesture like getting an HIV test in a nation riven with AIDS.
Or that stand could involve the political courage to stand with immigrants calling out for justice and forge a complex legislative solution across the aisle...and to pledge to do so sooner rather than later.
On these, and so many other issues that confront us as a nation and a world, Barack Obama invites us to stand for change.
It's about time.
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Today I worked at the Obama offices downtown Oakland. I met so many great people.
You are needed.
If you are anywhere near a Tsunami Tuesday state, you are needed. Trust me. Whether it's putting stickers on door hangers, making calls, canvassing, doing visibility or taking up magic markers and, like a 5th grader, making home made signs, this campaign needs you until the last poll closes on Tuesday night. You will move votes and impact this election, guaranteed, and that's good for all of us, as Democrats.
If this diary inspired you to reject cynicism and stand for hope, I would invite you to join us.
It's really simple.
Click on one of these links, the rest will be obvious:
EVENTS
MAKE CALLS
TAKE ACTION
Vote hope.
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