It is not enough to elect Barack Obama as President of the United States. Real change requires a Senate majority so progressive and large that his initiatives won't get gummed up by Republican procedural tactics, and a House of Representatives full of Democrats wanting to change the way business is done in Washington.
We need an Obamajority.
Populista rolled it out last night, and it's simple -- we will be choosing a slate of Senate and House candidates, both challengers and incumbents, who best represent both the fifty-state strategy and progressive change for which Barack Obama is fighting. As the weeks and months progress, we will keep adding to this list to highlight worthy candidates from states and districts red, purple, blue and polka-dotted.
You will go to ActBlue and give them money.
Right now.
Our first three candidates are Rick Noriega, Darcy Burner and Patrick Murphy. It would be silly for me to try to redo what Populista has explained so well, so if you want the full background go there.
I'll just tell a quick story about my friend Patrick Murphy, whom I've known since we both joined this law firm in early 2005, months before he announced his run. We talked on the phone before one of the controversial Iraq funding votes -- he was leaning against voting for funding, and I knew it was a politically risky move for him in his majority-Republican district, that he'd be attacked for not "supporting the troops" and whatnot, even as a veteran of the fiasco in Iraq. I figured the netroots could give him a mulligan on a vote like that.
But Adam, he explained to me, they're going to smear me no matter what I do, so I might as well just do the right thing. Otherwise, it's not worth being here.
We need leaders willing to speak this kind of truth on the floor of the House:
Mr. Speaker, for the sixth time, I rise calling for a change of direction in Iraq. For the sixth time, I call on the President to stop sending our brave men and women to referee a religious civil war. For the sixth time I call on this administration to focus our efforts in fighting the central front on the war on terror by killing Osama bin Laden and destroying al Qaeda in Afghanistan.
Mr. Speaker, last week countless folks back in Pennsylvania stopped me and asked, Aren’t you frustrated by this President who refuses to listen to Congress and the American people?
I told them, I am frustrated that our President refuses to follow the advice of military experts and the will of the American people. I am frustrated because my fellow paratroopers are still fighting and dying in the 138-degree heat of a Baghdad summer. I told them that I will refuse to stop fighting for the best policy for our troops and our families back here at home.
I have heard the other side say 4 more months. This President has had his 4 months. He has had his 4 years and 4 months. In 2004, the President said we are turning the corner. In 2005, the Vice President said the insurgency was in its last throes. In 2006, that was the year in transition. And now in 2007, the President says just be patient.
In the last month alone in Bucks County, we have buried four of our finest sons. Four names have been added to the memorial board outside my office. I, for one, don’t want to add any more names.
Help us build an Obamajority today.