It’s Our Time 4 June 2008

“You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.” Congrats to Obama for showing us, once again, that “there’s never been anything false about hope!” Here’s the message I got last night from the man himself:

Jennifer —

I’m about to take the stage in St. Paul and announce that we have won the Democratic nomination for President of the United States.

It’s been a long journey, and we should all pause to thank Hillary Clinton, who made history in this campaign. Our party and our country are better off because of her.

I want to make sure you understand what’s ahead of us. Earlier tonight, John McCain outlined a vision of America that’s very different from ours — a vision that continues the disastrous policies of George W. Bush.

But this is our moment. This is our time. Our time to turn the page on the policies of the past and bring new energy and new ideas to the challenges we face. Our time to offer a new direction for the country we love.

It’s going to take hard work, but thanks to you and millions of other donors and volunteers, no one has ever been more prepared for such a challenge.

Thank you for everything you’ve done to get us here. Let’s keep making history.

Barack

Keep on imagining, people. Anything really is possible!

Love,

Your very optimistic Pixie

Uper-say Uesday-tay 5 February 2008

As I sit back to watch the ballot boxes, I remain hopeful & fired-up for Obama. But, jet-lagged from my Seattle escape, I’ll let Toni Morrison work her magic for the man…

Dear Senator Obama,

This letter represents a first for me–a public endorsement of a Presidential candidate. I feel driven to let you know why I am writing it. One reason is it may help gather other supporters; another is that this is one of those singular moments that nations ignore at their peril. I will not rehearse the multiple crises facing us, but of one thing I am certain: this opportunity for a national evolution (even revolution) will not come again soon, and I am convinced you are the person to capture it.

May I describe to you my thoughts?

I have admired Senator Clinton for years. Her knowledge always seemed to me exhaustive; her negotiation of politics expert. However I am more compelled by the quality of mind (as far as I can measure it) of a candidate. I cared little for her gender as a source of my admiration, and the little I did care was based on the fact that no liberal woman has ever ruled i n America. Only conservative or “new-centrist” ones are allowed into that realm. Nor do I care very much for your race[s]. I would not support you if that was all you had to offer or because it might make me “proud.”

In thinking carefully about the strengths of the candidates, I stunned myself when I came to the following conclusion: that in addition to keen intelligence, integrity and a rare authenticity, you exhibit something that has nothing to do with age, experience, race or gender and something I don’t see in other candidates. That something is a creative imagination which coupled with brilliance equals wisdom. It is too bad if we associate it only with gray hair and old age. Or if we call searing vision naivete. Or if we believe cunning is insight. Or if we settle for finessing cures tailored for each ravaged tree in the forest while ignoring the poisonous landscape that feeds and surrounds it. Wisdom is a gift; you can’t train for it, inherit it, learn it in a class, or earn it in the workplace–that access can foster the acquisition of knowledge, but not wisdom.

When, I wondered, was the last time this country was guided by such a leader? Someone whose moral center was un-embargoed? Someone with courage instead of mere ambition? Someone who truly thinks of his country’s citizens as “we,” not “they”? Someone who understands what it will take to help America realize the virtues it fancies about itself, what it desperately needs to become in the world?

Our future is ripe, outrageously rich in its possibilities. Yet unleashing the glory of that future will require a difficult labor, and some may be so frightened of its birth they will refuse to abandon their nostalgia for the womb.

There have been a few prescient leaders in our past, but you are the man for this time.

Good luck to you and to us.

Toni Morrison

I anxiously await the rebirth of our nation! You?

Again with the Obama 13 September 2007

On this Unity World Day of Prayer, here’s a letter from Barack Obama I wanted to share with you. I like what he says here & maybe you will too:

Dear Jennifer,

I have spoken out against the war in Iraq since before it began.Today, I outlined a plan to turn the page in Iraq and end the war.Sign on to the plan today:my.barackobama.com/iraqplan

The saddest thing about the Bush administration’s surge of public relations in favor of the war in Iraq this week is how predictable it has become for them to make their case for war around the anniversary of 9/11.

Five years ago today — September 12, 2002 — President Bush made his case for war at the United Nations.

He was wrong. The people who attacked us on 9/11 were in Afghanistan, not Iraq, and his case was built on exaggerated fears and empty evidence.

But conventional thinking in Washington lined up for war. Too many politicians feared looking weak and failed to ask hard questions. Too many took the President at his word instead of reading the intelligence for themselves. Congress gave the President the authority to go to war, and our only opportunity to stop the war was lost.

I made a different judgment. I opposed this war from the beginning. I opposed the war in 2002. I opposed it in 2003. I opposed it in 2004. I opposed it in 2005. I opposed it in 2006. And I introduced a plan this January to remove all of our combat brigades by March 2008.

The time to end this war is now.

My plan for turning the page in Iraq is clear:

• remove our combat troops from Iraq’s civil war by the end of 2008
• take a new approach to press for reconciliation within Iraq
• escalate our diplomacy with all of Iraq’s neighbors and the United Nations
• confront the human costs of this war directly with increased humanitarian aid

Sign on to support the plan now and join the voices calling for an end to this war:

http://my.barackobama.com/iraqplan

Our troops have performed brilliantly, but let me be clear: there is no military solution in Iraq, and there never was.

The best way to protect our security and to pressure Iraq’s leaders to resolve their civil war is to begin to remove our combat troops immediately.

Not in six months or a year — now.

We must get out strategically and carefully, but our drawdown should proceed at a steady pace of one or two brigades each month. If we start now, all of our combat brigades should be out of Iraq by the end of next year.

Show your support for the immediate drawdown of our combat forces:

http://my.barackobama.com/iraqplan

While we change the dynamic within Iraq, we must surge our diplomacy in the region.

We need to launch the most aggressive diplomatic effort in recent history to reach a new compact in the region. This compact must secure Iraq’s borders, keep neighbors from meddling, isolate al Qaeda, and support Iraq’s unity.

Conventional thinking in Washington says Presidents cannot lead this diplomacy. But I think the American people know better. Not talking doesn’t make us look tough — it makes us look arrogant. And it doesn’t get results.

Strong Presidents tell their adversaries where they stand, and that’s what I would do. Now is the time for tough and sustained diplomacy backed by real pressure. It’s time to rally the region and the world to our side.

Support new diplomatic leadership and my plan to end the war:

http://my.barackobama.com/iraqplan

The final part of my plan is a major international initiative to address Iraq’s humanitarian crisis.

There’s no military solution that can reunite a family or resettle an orphaned child. It’s time to form an international working group with the countries in the region, our European and Asian friends, and the United Nations.

We should increase our support for displaced Iraqis and expand access to social services for refugees in neighboring countries.

It’s also time to go to our friends and allies — and all the members of our original coalition in Iraq — to find homes for the many Iraqis who are in desperate need of asylum.

As Americans, we must keep faith with Iraqis who kept faith with us and take responsibility for our own actions:

http://my.barackobama.com/iraqplan

I welcome all of the folks who have changed their position on the war over these last months and years. We need more of those votes to change if we’re going to change the direction of this war. But if we’ve learned one thing from Iraq, it’s that the judgment that matters most is the judgment that’s made first.

I opposed this war from the beginning, and I want to bring this country together to end this war now. The American people have the right instincts on Iraq. It’s time to heed their judgment.

We have the power to do this — not as Republicans or Democrats, but as Americans. We don’t have to wait until George Bush is gone from office — we can begin to end this war today, right now.

It’s time reclaim our foreign policy. It’s time to reclaim our politics. It’s time to lead this country — and this world — to a new dawn of peace and unity.

Thank you,

Barack Obama

& with that I affirm:

We are peacemakers, one in the love of God.
With hearts united, we establish harmony and peace
in our lives and in the world.