Daily Archives: June 14, 2012


President Obama: The Future Of This Country Is In Your Hands

Here is the speech that President Obama gave in Ohio that just lays it on the line in very clear terms.

What we do right now will determine the path our country takes for the next four years.

It’s that simple.


What he didn’t say quite clearly enough for me is that not only must we put him back in office, but we must change Congress to remove the gridlock. If the American voters cannot make up their minds in a sufficiently clear way, then we will muddle through another 4 years of going almost nowhere.

If all of the rest of the world were as undecided as we are and were as feckless as we have been in the 2010 election, then we will all be making very little progress at about the same rate. Even though there are many countries who are as confused as we are, there are some who are not. We can commiserate with all the other countries falling to the back of the pack with us, while a few head to the front.

The decision is in our hands and the decision will have major consequences for our future. Let us hope that the American people are up to the challenge. This time around, it is not a foregone conclusion. There is a significant chance that we will fail to rise to the challenge this time. There will be nobody to blame but ourselves if we fail.

Let me be clear, in case you cannot deduce what I am saying about Congress. This country will not recover if we fail to send President Obama back to the White House. However, even if we re-elect President Obama, if we send Scott Brown back to the Senate, there still will not be any progress. Doing half the job as a voter just won’t cut it at this particularly hazardous moment in our history.


Elizabeth Warren: Election is about heart, not numbers

Here is the video of Elizabeth Warren’s June 13 appearance on Hardball with Chris Matthews.


I think she did a good job talking about the issues, but she did evade questions about why she isn’t doing better in the polls. I think she was right to focus on the issues rather than get into the game of inside politics.

I just hope that inside her political organization, they are thinking hard about the issues Matthews raised. It is obvious to me in seeing her in person at various events, that she is working her heart out. She is working so hard, I worry she is losing weight when she didn’t have any spare weight to lose in the first place. Working harder at what she is already doing is not the solution in this case. I am not sure any human being could work harder. So now is the time to look at working smarter.

When the campaign “professionals” cannot see that continuing to use the old “Elizabeth Warren for Massachusetts” slogan instead of the new “Elizabeth Warren for Senate” slogan, or the Deval Patrick phrase “Elizabeth Warren – Senator for All of Massachusetts” is doing unnecessary harm to the campaign and it would be trivial to fix it, you do have to wonder what they are up to.

The campaign headquarters still answers the phone “Elizabeth Warren for Massachusetts”. I asked them, “Why oh why do you still say that instead of ‘Elizabeth Warren for Senate'”. The person on the other end of the phone said he would pass my suggestion on. In parting he asked whether I really thought the new slogan would be better. I had all I could do to not reply, “Well, duh?” Instead, I explained that as I go around in the field and people ask me what she is running for, I have to wonder why the campaign isn’t doing more to put that question to bed. (Of course the signs, bumper stickers, and campaign paraphernalia I make myself all do say “Elizabeth Warren for Senate” or sometimes “Elizabeth Warren – Senator for Massachusetts”. The official signs from the campaign now do say “Elizabeth Warren for Senate”, so at least one faction in the campaign hierarchy gets it.)

When I get an appeal from “Elizabeth Warren for Massachusetts”, I have taken to replying that I would be happy to comply with resuests from “Elizabeth Warren for Senate”, but I no longer comply with anything asked of me from “Elizabeth Warren for Massachusetts”.