First Weekly Address from President Obama

President Obama has posted his first weekly address on whitehouse.gov and has some optimistic ideas about recovery for and reinvestment in our country. The complete text of the address can be viewed here: 1/24/09 Weekly Address, below the video screen.

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President Obama

"On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord."

President Obama's Inaugural Speech

Threatening Obama

Sometimes human beings absolutely disgust me. I couldn't believe it when I heard that there is a convenience store in Maine that has a betting pool over when an assassination attempt will be made on President-elect Obama. Sure, it probably started off as a joke, but has gotten way out of hand. For $1, a person can be part of this Osama Obama Shotgun Pool. The person who picks the date closest to when an attempt on Obama's life is made will get all the money. To make this even more disgusting, there was a sign posted that says, "Let's hope we have a winner." Can you believe that? These people actually want Obama's life threatened? I am sure that the pool has been shut down by now.

Apparently, this incident isn't unjustified. According to the article I read, Obama has had more death threats than any other president-elect. White supremacists have multiplied. Obama has become a target and I worry for his and his family's safety.

Let's not let these people ruin what might be the best political event of our lifetime!

(The whole article can be read here)

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Feelin' Groovy!

This is how I've been feeling all day--just grinnin' and feelin' groovy!

Lucy

This morning when I was driving to Starbucks to meet my friends for our weekly Wednesday coffee and chat session, I thought of the election results and tears came to my eyes.  I'm such a doofus, but it is still such a moving experience for me.  Last night's results and Obama's speech were so touching and I feel so uplifted to know that we will start fresh as a country and there is hope to improve and be strong again.  

"We all made this journey for a reason...you came here because you believe in what this country can be.  In the face of war, you believe there can be peace. In the face of despair, you believe there can be hope.  In the face of politics that's shut you out, that's told you to settle, that's divided us for too long, you believe we can be one people, reaching for what's possible, building that more perfect union." -- President-elect Barack Obama on February 10, 2007 at the beginning of the campaign.

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"Get Out the Vote"

I read this extremely touching post in a friend's Journal today.  She writes about volunteering with Obama's campaign and her first time canvassing the neighborhood and talking to people about voting.  She had a list in hand and a serious duty to perform.  I admire her for it since I know I could never get out and do some "door knocking" to talk politics with voters, even if they were Obama supporters.  

She included a story that made me think about how ground-breaking this vote will be.  In the primaries, we had our first African-American and our first woman running for president.  For me and my generation, this is nothing really to think over.  It seems natural for us who have grown up in a world mixed all up and with opportunities offered for everyone regardless of sex or color.

But for our older generations, this is still a problem in some cases.  Some people refuse to vote for a person of color or for the "lesser sex".  In the journal article, my friend writes that she encountered a man who told her, “I’ll be voting for McCain,” he said, “and my wife won’t be voting.”  Can you imagine that?  It breaks my heart.  She follows the story with another one of a woman from the older generation who gives hope to the campaign:

The Story of Libba Grant, told by Beth Broderick on Huffington Post:

Hillary Clinton was her first choice so she did not mind telling you that she had her doubts about the new fellow. Funny name Barack Obama …who names a child something like that? She was disappointed when he won. Like many women of a certain age, she was thrilled by the notion of seeing a female elected president in her lifetime. Hillary’s defeat hurt her heart, but Libba was not one to hold a grudge and then her children thought the world of the fellow and that meant something. She decided she would hear him out.

When the Democratic Convention aired on television she sat up in her bed and watched night after night. What she saw moved her in ways she had not anticipated. It was quite a sight … 100,000 Americans of every age race and creed gathered together for that great crazy spectacle of American democracy. Libba had seen her share of history in the making but this felt personal. This was the America she had always believed in and had worked so hard to bring about.

Michelle Obama was as smart as she was lovely and the little girls adorable and perfectly mannered. This spoke well for Obama, must be a feminist to have a family like that. The speeches were all great and the moment that Hillary handed over her delegates was so thrilling that Libba forgot to be sad about it. Joe Biden is everything she loves about a Democrat, scrappy and earnest and a little bit unpredictable, not a lock-stepper … “good choice” she thought. Then, the new fellow Obama appeared at last before a hushed audience under the dark Denver sky. . She studied the crowd which was pin-drop quiet as he spoke of the challenges we face. She felt for the broad shouldered black men, whose eyes were wet with pride and smiled at the little old white ladies, their hands folded as if in prayer. She worried for the young people with the tattoos and the piercings, so hard looking until you peered into their wide innocent eyes.

Mr. Obama’s words fell around them as thoughtful as they were heated as grounded as they were inspiring … he seemed honest, a rare thing in a politician, but there was something more … something she could not put her finger on. Then it hit her and she filled with feeling. “He is the future plain and simple” she thought and Libba understood that she would soon be the past. She would not live to see the first African American sworn into office, but he would win and by God she would have her say in the matter.