Clinton Spits on Iowa on the Way out of Town

There were a couple of surprising (to me) quotes in the newspapers today. An article in The Wall Street Journal quoted Hillary Clinton’s press secretary, Jay Carlson as saying:

“Iowa is so small, it’s like a mayor’s race in a medium-sized city. It wouldn’t be wise to put too much emphasis on it.”

The same article quotes Clinton chief strategist Mark Penn:

“The worst thing would be to over count Iowa and its importance. Iowa doesn’t have a record of picking presidents.”

The Washington Post quoted Bill Clinton this way:

"Ladies and gentlemen, New Hampshire is going to be given the chance to prove that you are the first [pause for emphasis] primary."

After bragging-up the intelligence and dedication of Iowa voters for the last year, Hillary Clinton suddenly finds little to love about the Hawkeye state. Well, I have bad news for the Clintons. They’re in for more of the same from New Hampshire.

In Iowa Barack Obama attracted thousands of first-time caucus-goers, building a coalition of independents and moderate Republicans to win handily. Well, guess what 45 percent of New Hampshire's voters are? They are independents, not registered for the Democratic or Republican parties, and they can vote in Tuesday’s primary.

The Clintons are much-loved in New Hampshire, the state where Bill Clinton earned the nickname, “The Comeback Kid.” But I like to think that the Independents in New Hampshire are just that – independent thinkers who are ready for a change.

People of New Hampshire, be warned – If you don’t give the Clintons what they want, their vindictiveness will be turned on you next.

Meet the Heroes

Kim and Scott Schultz

If the definition of “hero” is someone who displays courage and the will for self-sacrifice for some greater good, then just yesterday I met two heroes: Kim and Scott Schultz of Cedar Rapids, IA. They have endured a withering barrage of advertisements, phone calls and emails from presidential candidates. Mitt Romney alone has run more than 8,000 ads in Iowa. Even after this tsunami of information, they are still, at this late hour turning up at events, trying to make sure they know everything they need to know in order to pick a President.

To educate themselves, they have taken heroic measures – spent hours searching web sites, reading position papers and of course coming out to see the candidates. They have seen Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and yesterday, as if they had not had enough, they turned out to hear Barack Obama in Cedar Rapids, IA.

This is Kim’s fifth time to see Barack Obama. Kim is a true Obama-believer. She has also canvassed door-to-door and made phone calls on behalf of Sen. Obama. She has registered at My.BarackObama.com and is part of the Coe College group. Kim is completing her teaching certification at Coe College.

You might think the reason Kim started supporting Obama is because of his stance on education. Though she says that is an important issue for her, she says “Actually, out of all the Democrats, he’s the one who is the most honest, the most believable…the one who is most ready to be president because of his background…being raised by his mom. He knows what the average person has to put up with.”

Kim has stayed a loyal Obama supporter despite quite a bit of pressure. “Elizabeth Edwards called me!” she exclaims, still in disbelief. “Not a recording – Elizabeth Edwards called. ‘Hi Kim, You have questions about global warming?’ And then I got a call on my cell phone from [Congressman] Bruce Braley. ‘Elizabeth Edwards told me…’” But Kim was not persuaded. “If there’s anyone who can bring unity…I think Barack Obama can bring unity…Every time I’ve heard him talk, I’m thinking John F. Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy, and Martin Luther King...”

Scott was not so quick to believe in Senator Obama. “I’m the last one to convert,” he confesses. And then he wavers. “Well, I’m still…” he steals a glance at Kim, and then pushes ahead. “Yeah, I think I’m Obama…no, I’m with Obama,” he finally pronounces. With 24 hours to the caucus, Scott still has mixed feelings. When asked about his second choice, he replies without hesitation, “It would be Edwards. We went to see Edwards when he was here at Coe College just before Christmas.” After a few minutes though, he remembers a less-than-favorable impression he had of John Edwards. “He was sort of…well, he was saying you couldn’t be nice and take on the corporations. He was like the Republicans, but the exact opposite. I was glad to hear Barack address that today.”

After a little more conversation, a secret comes out. There’s another hero in the family. “Really, this whole Obama thing started with our son.” Justin, a student at Kennedy High School is the invisible hand behind two converts to Barack Obama – the hero behind the heroes. Scott commented, “It was 10 months ago, Justin just said, ‘you guys are supporting Obama.’”

Justin has met Barack Obama. Before the meeting, Justin had done his homework, developing a deep understanding of Sen. Obama’s positions. When he finally got to meet Barack Obama, Justin took the opportunity to ask Barack Obama the one burning question left - He asked Barack Obama if he liked Jimmy Hendricks. “Yes!” was Obama’s enthusiastic reply. Obama had passed the test. Justin was definitely an Obama man. He went to work on his parents.

And so, here I find them, two heroic figures, Scott and Kim Schultz, taking time out of their schedule for one last check in before the caucus. Despite more than 10 months of constant information overload and a rich field of candidates, they had come out one more time to be sure. As they left they both seem to know whom they would support on caucus night – Barack Obama, a man they see as a hero.

Karl Rove’s Poison Pill

Tonight when Karl Rove makes his New Year’s resolution, I’m betting it has something to do with helping Hillary Clinton win the Democratic nomination. Rove’s suggestion of her inevitability has been picked up like a mantra by the GOP, Rove’s surrogates and even many in the media. Rove knows there is only one way for the Republicans to win the Whitehouse in 2008 and that is to divide the country.

Let’s face it. This country is roughly 1/3 conservative, 1/3 liberal and 1/3 moderate. It’s the middle 1/3 who choose a president. A Clinton nomination would be so polarizing; there is no way that the moderate middle will cross over to vote for her. Of course, the Republicans could also nominate a polarizing person, increasing the likelihood of a third-way political party led by Bloomberg and company.

As an independent voter in Iowa I’ve got a ringside seat to the fight for the presidency and I have to tell you it’s pretty ugly. I have supported Republican candidates in the past – before they decided that torture is a moral right; habeas corpus is an inconvenient legal technicality; and that they have the right to declare anyone they choose to be an enemy combatant. At the same time, as a moderate voter, I can’t see myself supporting Hillary Clinton for president.

So, now the choice for the Democratic Party is clear:

• There’s a divisive Hillary Clinton nomination.
  
• There is battlin’ John Edwards. I think he’s an amazingly good man. I supported him early on, but he’s run a take-no-prisoners campaign, and that’s not what it takes to unite the country. Sorry, John.
  
• And there’s the one candidate who stands for uniting red states and blue states – Barack Obama. Obama is the middle way. He is the one who can win my vote.
  

Now is OUR Time

NOW is the time to make a difference, and YOU are the one to do it. Our children are watching what we do. What legacy are you going to leave them? The writers of the history books will look at this time and report on what the American people did. How will history treat you?

Why Now?

Let’s think about this moment in the context of history:

• Our government holds prisoners without charge for years at a time.
  
• The gap between the rich and poor widens every day.
  
• The government searches our private information without a warrant.
  
• The earth warms, the ice melts and our lives hang in the balance.
  
• The Bush-Cheney Whitehouse authorizes the torture of prisoners – and then orders the destruction of evidence.
  
• We are fighting a war based on intelligence failures, enmeshing us in a civil war.

If you’ve listened to Barack Obama speak more than once, you’ve probably heard him quote Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., using the phrase “the fierce urgency of now.” Have you ever wondered about the context of that phrase? You can read the entire speech here, but if you don’t want to plow through the entire speech, then at least read this one paragraph:

“We are now faced with the fact, my friends that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked, and dejected with a lost opportunity. The tide in the affairs of men does not remain at flood-it ebbs. We may cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is adamant to every plea and rushes on. Over the bleached bones and jumbled residues of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words, ‘Too late.’ There is an invisible book of life that faithfully records our vigilance or our neglect. Omar Khayyam is right: ‘The moving finger writes, and having writ moves on.’”

- Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., "Beyond Vietnam," address delivered to the Clergy and Laymen Concerned about Vietnam, at Riverside Church, New York, NY, 4 April 1967. You can hear an audio recording of the entire speech here.

As Barack Obama said at the Jefferson-Jackson dinner,

“I am running in this race because of what Dr. King called ‘the fierce urgency of now.’ Because I believe there is such a thing as being too late – and that hour is almost upon us. America, our moment is now.”

This is the time, and you are the key.

It’s About You

Not only is this the time, but you are the one to make a difference. This is the chance to change the conversation – to take back our country from the special interest groups. This is our chance to win, but it is up to us.

If you want to understand your role in healing our nation, watch this video. Here is Barack Obama on February 11, 2007, in his own words, telling us what it is that he is trying to do. He says:

“I want to win, but I don’t just want to win. I want to transform this country. And the only way we are going to do this is if YOU make this a vehicle for your hopes and dreams.”

“Ultimately, the country changes when millions of people come together and their voices speak out on behalf of change.”

“When ordinary citizens are awakened, they accomplish extraordinary things.”

Do you get it? This race isn’t about Barack Obama. This race is about us – We the People. This is our chance to rise up and to be heard. The time is now, the place is here and the person to make a difference is you.

Why I support Barack Obama for President

With less than a week to go before the Iowa caucuses, I'm fired up and ready to go! Here is why I support Barack Obama for President in 2008.

1. Barack Obama stands for change – He has run his campaign without taking money from lobbyists. You can’t be part of the system and change the system.

2. Barack Obama has shown sound judgment – he is the only leading candidate who opposed the Iraq war from the beginning – even when it was profoundly unpopular.

He’s the guy who said, Hey, wait a minute. The emperor has no clothes.

3. Barack Obama will restore America –

• He will restore America’s rightful place as a world leader in human rights and civil liberties. We can’t lead if we’re trampling on the very values we were founded on.
• He will restore the rule of law after the shameful performance of the Bush Administration.
• He will restore the unity of the United States of America after the divisiveness of the last eight years.

Change, Judgment and Restoring the America I believe in - that is why I support Barack Obama. I hope you will too.

Choose Hope over Fear

This election comes down to a simple choice: Do you want to live a life of love, or do you want to live a life of fear? I'm going to tell you how I have chosen, but first I have to tell a little story.

Several years ago I was seeing a counselor to help me sort through some issues. At one point she asked me the typical, “…and how do you feel about that?” question. As she saw me struggling to come up with a word that would perfectly describe my nuanced feelings, she offered this suggestion. “Don’t try to come up with the perfect word. Just think of feelings as four primary colors – sad, mad, glad and scared. Which one of those are you feeling?” That helped a lot. After spending a lifetime learning a thousand different words for “happy,” I finally had a simple way of expressing how I felt.

For several years I continued to use this simple four-color method for sorting through my feelings. After a while I began to simplify this system further until I realized that, for me, all of my feelings came down to two – love and fear. I have found it useful to ask myself, “Right now, am I coming from love, or am I coming from fear?”

I want to live a live that comes from love, but there are a lot of forces that are working in the opposite direction. Who told me to be afraid?

There is an entire news industry whose job is to milk my glands with dire threats and imminent dangers. Someone once told me that “the body cannot absorb the amount of grief produced by our modern 24 hour news channels.” I believe that.

There are the K-Street lobbyists who would rather win a battle for funding than to really help and educate the American people. Richard Feldman, a former lobbyist for the NRA said in his new book Ricochet, “Drawing nice clean lines between ‘us’ and ‘them’ to battle over makes for far more successful direct mail solicitations than actually solving problems.” How sad.

Unfortunately, some presidential candidates want us to be afraid – they want us to fear Latinos and gay people and the Jihadist who is lurking around the corner. They want us to suspect the motive of their fellow public servants and to believe their opponent in the race is the anti-Christ. Their dark scary ads warn us of the weakness of their opponents and the imminent danger brought on by voting for them. Their message is, “Be afraid. Be very afraid.”

Well, I choose not to live in fear. I have chosen a candidate of hope – one whose message comes from love and not fear. I have chosen to caucus for Barack Obama.

Barack Obama speaks of the importance of faith, telling us “But over the long haul, I think we make a mistake when we fail to acknowledge the power of faith in people's lives -- in the lives of the American people -- and I think it's time that we join a serious debate about how to reconcile faith with our modern, pluralistic democracy.”

He reminds us that justice is in OUR hands. He said “Martin Luther King Jr. spoke to the crowd of thousands and said ‘The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.’ He's right, but you know what? It doesn't bend on its own. It bends because we help it bend that way.”

He calls us to service, saying “I am here today to…invite you to take hold of the future of your country. Because your own story and the American story are not separate - they are shared. And they will both be enriched if we stand up together, and answer a new call to service to meet the challenges of our new century.”

Faith, hope, love, justice, service…these are the reasons I support Barack Obama. I hope you will too.

The Sound of Inevitability

If you believe the mainstream media, with the exception of Hillary Clinton, all the other candidates should just fold their tent and go home. This kind of rhetoric reminds me of a scene from the movie The Matrix. In the scene I’m thinking of, Agent Smith is holding our hero Neo in front of an oncoming train.

Agent Smith: "You hear that Mr. Anderson? That is the sound of inevitability... It is the sound of your death... Goodbye, Mr. Anderson..."

Neo: "My name... is Neo."

And with that Neo jumps away, leaving Agent Smith in front of the train. I’m just guessing here, but I’d say that it didn’t turn out like Agent Smith had expected it to.

Elections also have a funny way of not turning out the way that everyone thought they would. Just ask Howard Dean. In the Fall of 2003 he was on the front cover of Time Magazine…and Newsweek…and several other magazines.

A few short months later, he was only famous for two things – a rebel yell and the biggest implosion of a promising politician in several years.

The press seems to have decided that Hillary Clinton can’t be stopped. Her election to the presidency seems to be “inevitable.” That might fit someone’s desire for an easy to understand election process, but it doesn’t match the facts.

Yes, Hillary Clinton has raised a total of $78.6 million, slightly less than Barack Obama’s $78.9 million, but there is one very important distinction that no one is talking about. Did you know that $10 million of the $78.6 million that Hillary has raised came from Hillary Rodham Clinton, via Friends of Hillary? It seems that no one loves Hillary as much as Hillary loves Hillary. So, if you look at the facts, Hillary has not raised more than Barack. She has raised less money.

But really when it comes right down to it, does it matter who has raised $78.6 million and who has raised $78.9 million? Several candidates have raised plenty of money to remain viable including John Edwards, Mitt Romney (who has loaned his campaign $17.3 million), Rudi Giuliani, John McCain and Bill Richardson. If a candidate has a 16 lb. sledge hammer or a 12 lb. sledge hammer, who cares? They have a big enough tool (some would argue weapon) to compete in the primaries.

So, don’t believe it when you read that the election of Hillary Clinton is inevitable. It's not even true that the election of a Democrat to the White House is assured. When it comes to elections, nothing is predictable. No amount of money could make a candidate inevitable.

What does Barack Obama have to say?

Here is Barack Obama in his own words. First, he is talking about what it is that he’s trying to accomplish with this campaign. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iDfAVbOcpw



You can also see him talk about the importance of citizen involvement in the process. He explains the importance of staying involved in the process, overcoming cynicism and holding special interests at bay through your activities. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHg95YPlIiY



Enjoy the videos.

What exactly is a "conversation," anyway?

Barack Obama looked right at me and said, “I want to have a conversation.” This might have been a heart-stopping moment for any political junkie, but of course, he was also looking at 2,500 other people packed into the gymnasium at Kennedy High School in Cedar Rapids, IA.

It's a nice sentiment to think that Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton will be in my living room for a "conversation" - a two-way give and take - asking real questions and getting short answers. But as far as I can see, that's just not going to happen.

The term “rock star” candidate has been used excessively to describe Senator Obama. That’s shorthand for someone who can pack a large venue and still appeal to the crowd. When it comes to the music of politics, there are accessible candidates like Tom Vilsack and John Edwards, and then there are "stadium bands," like Hillary and Obama.

Since people are being fast and loose with their comparisons of Senator Obama, comparing him to John F. Kennedy, let’s try another analogy, the Rolling Stones. Hey, if he’s a rock star, then this might not be a bad comparison. The Rolling Stones have rabid fans, the same as Senator Obama. They can pack a stadium anywhere in the world, anytime they wish. At this point, Senator Obama can do the same. The challenge for both the Rolling Stones and Senator Obama is, just because it works in the stadium, does not mean it will work in your living room.

The Rolling Stones have been able to bring their large stadium show to more intimate settings, for example playing the Aragon Ball Room in Chicago in 2002. More importantly, the Stones have infiltrated our most intimate moments by being the soundtrack to our lives. We hear certain songs and we connect.

Senator Obama is trying the same thing with his web site, which by the way is very well done. I can go onto Senator Obama’s web site and use social networking tools similar to Facebook and MySpace, but that does not really connect me with Senator Obama. It might connect me with other fans of Senator Obama, but not with Obama himself. With the bus loads of journalists, the satellite trucks and the rabid fans, it is hard to see how Senator Obama will be able to make it to anyone’s living room. So, here’s a suggestion.

The answer to the “rock star” challenge might be as old as Socrates. If candidates like Senator Clinton and Senator Obama are serious about a “conversation,” then let’s have more sincere and sustained question and answer time. I’m sure the people at Kennedy High School would have stayed late into the night asking questions and listening to the answers.

Steve Sovern did an admirable job of being the gracious host of the event in Cedar Rapids, and as such pitched the Senator some nice softballs. The five questions from the audience were well worded, showing a sophisticated level of political understanding. But Senator Obama's answers were so verbose there was little time for the pretense of a conversation.

If candidates are sincere about having a conversation, then let’s have a conversation. As the people on the campaign stops, let’s do our homework and ask great questions. Candidates, answer the question and then shut up. That gives us time for more questions. Here in the heartland, that’s what a real conversation looks like.

Five Questions for Sam Brownback

On January 30, 2007 Sam Brownback was nice enough to give me 8 minutes of his time. Senator Brownback named as his top priorities:

1. A flat tax
   
2. Privatizing Social Security
   
3. A culture of life - i.e., pro-life
   
4. Supporting marriage – against gay marriage
   
5. Curing cancer in the next 10 years

I also asked about Extraordinary Rendition and the death penalty. You can see the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UazlxBIdYUY

Elizabeth Edwards on No Child Left Behind

On January 20th, 2007 several bloggers sat down with Elizabeth Edwards and asked her questions on a variety of topics. One of the most interesting conversations revolved around No Child Left Behind. Mrs. Edwards made several insightful comments.

Mrs. Edwards’ comments can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wE_AZrIi72o

Governor Tom Vilsack's Announcement Speech

If you're curious about Tom Vilsack and would like to meet this little-known candidate, take a look at his speech in which he announces his run for the presidency.

http://cultureshift.com/Video/Vilsack.wmv