I never thought I’d live to see another man of the intellectual and ethical equal of a Bobby Kennedy, combined with the passion for jutice, equality and inclusion of Martin Luther King, but I have met that man, and his name is Barack Obama. Like the Kennedy’s, he is brilliant, intelligent, and destined for greatness. He is not saddled with a long past or old notions of what life should be. or was. Instead he is young, visionary, and full of great ideas of what might be, what could be, for all of us.
(Chris)

Obama has stayed true to his ideas and ideals, and has been clear in his intentions, yet the Republicans ignore his words and twist his meanings to fit their agenda. They say he is "mum on the economy" and yet, he has stated repeatedly what he will do, and more importantly, what WE must do, as American citizens, to regain control of our financial situation. He has stated again and again what is needed to regain our standing in the world, and he possesses the grace and intellectual humility needed to heal the wounds inflicted by the past eight years. He is the first candidate to have the strength and integrity to tell us what we need to hear; that WE as a people, as a nation, have to rise to the challenge. That we, as citizens of this great country must take responsibility to correct our course, that each of us, not our government alone, must take part in the shaping of our future, that we must not let the blind ambition of the few steer us onto the rocks of apathy and avarice. It makes me sad that what is common sense is seen as a bad choice...
(2ndGenNavyMan)

[Courage] "Grace under pressure."
(Ernest Hemingway)

I'm voting Democrat because I believe that when the terrorists don't have to hide from us over there, they will come over here and I won't have any guns in the house to fight them off with.
(McCain supporter)

"We are fools of time and terror,"
(Lord Byron)

YOU WANT SOMETHING SOLID?? Biden said he thinks there will be a "test from the nations" if obama becomes president. Now that is funny coming from his own running mate!! They keep shooting themselves in the feet and the Republicans can just sit back and laugh! KARMA BABY KARMA!

"The dreams of a generation seemed to die with those men, and the next 12 years were some of the most painful and challenging social times our country has ever faced - LBJ, Nixon, Ford, Carter - all had their share of good and bad qualities, but none were in a league with the Kennedy borthers or MLK."
(Chris)

Courage, Wisdom in an Age of Fear

When friends have confided their fears for Barack Obama's physical safety, I have winced and wanted to shush them. It may be a neurosis peculiar to me, but I have felt that even to speak of the possibility of such a thing - you see, I cannot say it - invites the heinous act to happen. If the prospect of Obama's being attacked has been a shadow on his run for president, last week's debate between the candidates brought light into the shadow, offering yet another revelation of why Obama is special.

I came into my adulthood between 1963 and 1968. Already, readers of a certain age will know why those years are defining. The assassination of John F. Kennedy, as my generation was just getting started, confronted us too soon with the starkest truth of the human drama - every life a tragedy. But the shock of Dallas was not enough to undo us because we were young and still believed that heartbreak can motivate change for the better. We saw that then, as movements against war and for civil rights drew energy from the political idealism sparked by JFK. His assassination had made us wary, though, as if hope is not to be trusted.

When Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, our chosen tribunes of justice and peace, were gunned down weeks apart in 1968, a flame in our hearts was doused forever. Their deaths, in addition to crippling the movements for which they stood, made us see how the tragic can be laced with the absurd. We knew that, if ever gripped by passionate hope again, we would see it snatched away unrealized, although we could not bring ourselves to say by what. And why shouldn't we, right then, have stopped being young?

One of the joys of the current season is to see a fresh generation respond to the promise of Obama without reflexes of worry. Young people have a right to uncomplicated hope, and Obama is himself young enough to nurture it.

But for many Americans, ghosts haunt the house of politics, a hovering threat for which, until recently, there were no words. That is the background for the shudders felt when last week's presidential debate turned to the ugliness of what this campaign has surfaced. John McCain complained about "unfair" criticisms by Georgia Congressman John Lewis of slurs shouted at some McCain-Palin rallies. Obama replied that he had distanced himself from Lewis's comments. But he explained that Lewis was expressing concern at McCain supporters shouting, as Obama put it, referring to himself as the target, "things like 'Terrorist!' and 'Kill him!' "

There it was: Obama himself using the phrase "Kill him!" Obama naming the threat of his own assassination. He went on, "And that your running mate. . . didn't say, 'Hold on a second, that's kind of out of line.' I think Congressman Lewis's point was that we have to be careful how we deal with our supporters."

McCain swung into a manic defense of his supporters, displaying tone deafness to the unnerving chord that had been plucked by his own campaign. McCain is of the generation that was traumatized by the murders of 1968, but that year he was undergoing a separate trauma of his own in Hanoi. He is not seized, perhaps, by the visceral dread out of which Lewis was speaking, and which so many recognize. However irrelevant the youthful nihilism of William Ayers, its full horror cannot be grasped without reference to the social breakdown that preceded it.

Obama has shown that he understands the positive and negative legacies of the 1960s, but he is defined by neither. For me, his calm and reasonable demeanor was never more welcome than when he repeated that phrase "Kill him!" Unlike me, Obama is not afraid to put the threat into words, as long as doing so opens into deeper understanding. The threat thus spoken of is defused.

A Republican mantra has been, "Who is Barack Obama?" But he has been showing us. His courage runs as deep as his wisdom. For some Americans, he represents, in addition to everything else, the unexpected possibility that we can find release in middle age from what took us hostage when we were young.

(James Carroll - The Boston Globe)

RIGHT ON SHARON! Sarah Palin has said nothing more than a bunch of one-liners, like "Hey Joe Sixpack" and "Yo, hockey Mom." Her latest one liner is another baseless attack on Obama by "Joe the Plumber!" Joe the plummber isn't even who he said he was. He's another liar! Even the Republican party is disgusted with the character assinations and the negative, factless scare tactics the McCain/Palin campaign has unleashed during this campaign. Their campaign has not been about the issues. Instead, both he and she are terrorizing little old ladies and ignorant naive idiots into believing that Obama is scarier than Bin Laden. These lies are not only hurtful to Obama, the man, but detremental to our entire society. Sarah Palin has nothing to say. Keep up the attacks and the lies, Sarah. You can start packing now. Go back to the hills where you came from. May we never see your empty head again.

Someone has said we should beware of Palin cause she's right wing and anti-gay - so am I!!

I was lucky enough to grow up in a very idealistic time, when all Americans seemed to feel that anything was possible. My father had served in WWII, and came home to raise a family and run a very successful business in one of the most prosperous times in American history. I voted in my first election when I was 19, for John F Kennedy. Although America had its share of problems after he was elected, including the fight for civil rights, the Bay of Pigs, Vietnam, etc., we were sill incredily optimistic, we had great hope because we had elected a young, forward looking, intelligent man to lead us. He represented a break with the past and he and his young, beautiful family embodied all of our hopes for the future. A lot of people feared and hated him, he was of Irish descent, and he was a Catholic - two big no-no's back then! John F Kennedy was assasinated three years later.

By the time I wa 28 years old, I had lived to see two more great Americans assasinated. These men represented opposite spectrums in our ociety, but they shared youth, brilliance and passion, and inspired a nation with their ideals for justice, progress, change, and equaliy for all. Matin Luther King scared a lot of America - he was black, he was outspoken, and he abolutely believed that African American people would come into thier own and be treated as equals in an unequal American society. Bobby Kennedy scared a hell of a lot of people too, because he was young and brilliant, and he knew that racism, bigotry and hatred were not American values. These men were of their time, but were murdered because people could not let go of their deeply held hate, ignorance, racism and bigotry
.
The dreams of a generation seemed to die with those men, and the next 12 years were some of the most painful and challenging social times our country has ever faced - LBJ, Nixon, Ford, Carter - all had their share of good and bad qualities, but none were in a league with the Kennedy borthers or MLK.

Ronald Regan was a man for his time, and one of the most inspiring preidents of the last 50 years. He wasn’t from my party, and I didn’t agree with a lot he did, but I respected him. The Bushes are regrettable, especialy the junior one, and Clinton broke my heart.

I never thought I’d live to see another man of the intellectual and ethical equal of a Bobby Kennedy, combined with the passion for jutice, equality and inclusion of Martin Luther King, but I have met that man, and his name is Barack Obama. Like the Kennedy’s, he is brilliant, intelligent, and destined for greatness. He is not saddled with a long past or old notions of what life should be. or was. Instead he is young, visionary, and full of great ideas of what might be, what could be, for all of us.

The vile comments I read about on this site scare the hell out of me, from both Republicans and Democrats. The hatred you spew is as frighteniing as the hatred that lead to the assasination of those three great men, back when I was young and idealistic. Have we not evolved in our thinking? Have we not learned anything from our history?

I hope and pray that President Obama will be allowed to fulfilll his destiny and lead America and all Americans along the path of righteousness, equality, social justice and equal opportunities for all. He is a man for our times, and for the difficult times ahead.

Change is difficult, and letting go of some our old habits and beliefs, even if a lot of them are only based on fear of the unknown, will be difficult. There’s great comfort in clinging to the status quo, even if the status quo includes racism, hatred and discrimination. But we are all better than this, we all have the capacity to evolve and emrace this incedile opportunity to let go of all that hate and fear. I hope to live long enough to be proven right.

I remain hopeful - thank you, Barack Obama.

To 2ndGenNavyMan:

I agree with you. Whoever will win the election whether it's the Democrat or Republican, we all have one goal. To make this country greater!! for the sake of the next generation.

Let's play fair but no trashy comments. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. Check what both candidates can offer to us, the people, see which suits you best, then vote for that candidate.

We are so lucky that we have the freedom to choose our leader. In some country, they don't have that freedom.

So let's us all be proud to be an AMERICAN!!

To All Obama/Biden supporters:

Please let pray for Senator Obama's grandmother, she is very ill. Let us also pray for Senator Obama.

Thank you.

WOMEN ARE NOT THAT STUPID........
as stupid as you..
the stupidest thing to say....she should have no t=right to talk - come on- love you- not her- she is a plastic surgeons dream- from somewhere else- and drug freakin family- ELLENNNN- dont post that freaks stuff-

What an insult to the voters of Alaska that voted Palin into office. They aparently approved of her. I also think it is funny that this know-it-all celebrity criticizes McCain's choice in Palin.
Afterall, look who she chose to marry the brain-fried-from-drugs Ozzy. We all can see what quality people Sharon judges as worthy to have in her life. Yet, she still feels justified to criticize others.