Obama '08?

American exceptionalism, as practiced by Bush, has created a longing for new American engagement.

Renewal is about policy; it's also about symbolism. Which brings us to Barack Hussein Obama, the Democratic candidate with a Kenyan father, a Kansan mother, an Indonesian stepfather, a childhood in Hawaii and Indonesia and impressionable experience of the Muslim world.

If the globe can't vote next November, it can find itself in Obama. Troubled by the violent chasm between the West and the Islamic world? Obama seems to bridge it. Disturbed by the gulf between rich and poor that globalization spurs? Obama, the African-American, gets it: the South Side of Chicago is the South Side of the world.

Michael Ignatieff, the deputy leader of Canada's opposition Liberal Party, said: "Outsiders know it's your choice. Still, they are following this election with passionate interest. And it's clear Barack Obama would be the first globalized American leader, the first leader in whom internationalism would not be a credo, it would be in his veins."

- Soccer moms. Do I include myself in that category? Probably. From early 30's to late 40's, in groups of 2 or 3, with husbands, or alone. It was probably the largest group of singles (as in, people who didn't come in a group). Maybe their kids were in school and their husbands were working. (True in my case.) Maybe 75% white and 25% black, I didn't notice other nationalities, maybe some Latinas.

I don't know if it's on the newsstands yet, but the December issue of The Atlantic has a cover story by Andrew Sullivan on "Why Obama Matters" that is a big, wet, sloppy, open-mouthed kiss to Barack Obama. Check it out.

A liberal boomer vents:

"Barack Obama, please realize that you are assisting the right's efforts to get rid of Social Security."

In my dreams.

I enjoy reading Andrew Sullivan, but you dont need to scratch much of the centrist veneer to find a libertarian like Thomas.

That sounds a lot like the Oprah crowd.

Obama stirs up S.F. crowd
The Sacramento Bee | November 15, 2007
By Peter Hecht

SAN FRANCISCO â€" Before more than 5,000 people in a raucous, late-night rally, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama issued a passionate call Wednesday to end the war in Iraq, stop the U.S. practice of torture and advance racial equality and gay rights in America.

Introduced by author Alice Walker as a man who will bring "compassion and decent leadership" to the world, Obama said that as president he would enact policies to reverse the course of "a nation at war" and "a planet in peril."

To thunderous cheers, he evoked the late Martin Luther King Jr.'s cry of "the fierce urgency of now," saying: "As president I will end the war in Iraq. I will bring the troops home. They will be home in 16 months. ... America, San Francisco. Our moment is now. You can't wait any longer. Our moment to bring about change is now."

The rally followed a town hall meeting before some 1,500 people at Google headquarters in Mountain View. There, Obama called for suspending military aid to Pakistan until the U.S. ally in the war on terror ends its state of emergency and embraces a return to democratic rule. Meanwhile, he said as president he would create a high-tech agenda to bring openness and transparency to American democracy after seven years of "one of the most secretive administrations in our history."

Meanwhile, he called for internal diplomacy in Iraq and regional diplomacy to end the conflict there and stop neighboring Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. He charged that the Bush administration's stance that "not talking to leaders we don't like makes us look tough is fundamentally wrong."

He criticized Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf for suspending civil liberties and jailing political foes, calling it a mistake to "latch onto authoritarian, non-democratic rule" in the belief that it can combat "Islamic extremism."

The Illinois senator's appearance followed previous Google town halls for New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Arizona Sen. John McCain. The Illinois senator said he would appoint a "chief technology officer" to open up America's government by giving citizens heightened access to information.

With stern criticism of President Bush, Obama called for creating "a 21st century standard" that would give average citizens "real-time" access to seek information and question governmental officials.

Obama appeared later Wednesday at an upscale fundraiser at the Menlo Park home of former eBay executive and 2006 gubernatorial candidate Steve Westly. The 300 guests included actress Michelle Pfeiffer and former 49ers football star Ronnie Lott.

Later, thousands crowded into the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium for a rally costing $15 to $30 a person. The event drew a bus full of Obama supporters from Sacramento, including local organizer Dustin Schwindt. "Some people are excited because he is a popular figure," Schwindt said. "But more and more I notice he's backing up that image with substance."

Obama's campaign swing came on the eve of today's Democratic candidates' debate in Las Vegas. It also followed his campaign's release Tuesday night of a pointed strategy memo, in which campaign manager David Plouffe openly questioned whether two other top Democrats â€" Clinton and Edwards â€" were too divisive to get elected.

Plouffe argued Obama is gaining strength "at Sen. Clinton's expense" as voters tune into the Democratic race in early primary states of Iowa and New Hampshire. "Clinton is likely to unite the GOP against her candidacy as well as her presidency," he wrote.

Clinton's California campaign spokesman Luis Vizcaino answered back: "Perhaps if the Obama campaign spent more time explaining what he would do as president than attacking fellow Democrats, his campaign will be doing a bit better in the polls," he said.

Obama shares his tech plan today in valley visit
The San Jose Mercury News | November 14, 2007
By Matt Marshall

Barack Obama will unveil several new technology policy initiatives today during a visit to Silicon Valley, including a proposal for a national technology czar called a "chief technology officer," VentureBeat has learned.

The Democratic presidential candidate comes to California seeking to bolster his standings here, where he currently trails front-runner Hillary Clinton in most opinion polls.

Obama's tech agenda, including the CTO proposal, should play well with the employees at Google, the Mountain View search engine, where Obama will visit this afternoon, among other stops.

The CTO's mandate under the plan is significantly different from the cybersecurity czar position created by the Bush administration. The CTO's main responsibility would be to ensure the government holds open meetings and records live Webcasts of those meetings, and that blogging software, wikis (Web site pages where multiple people can edit a document at the same time) and open comments be used to communicate policies with Americans.

Obama's technology plan covers everything from providing new subsidies for Internet broadband access to increasing permanent visas for skilled immigrants.

His campaign has long stressed the need for open government meetings and more transparency. But his plan reveals more specifics. He wants Cabinet officials, government executives and rule-making agencies to hold meetings open to the public and transmitted with a live feed. The
CTO's mandate will be to ensure this happens, according to Obama's campaign managers, who spoke with VentureBeat.

Specifically, Obama wants the public to be able to comment on the White House Web site for five days before legislation is signed.

Several well-known local figures are expected to announce their support for Obama's plan, including two former FCC chairmen under President Clinton: Stanford University legal expert Larry Lessig and John Roos, chief executive of Palo Alto law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.

Roos, one of Obama's top fundraisers, said Silicon Valley start-ups will be encouraged by Obama's call this month for a clean technology venture capital fund backed by a whopping $50 billion in federal money over five years.

In the plan, Obama also calls for more aggressive government support of broadband access. Specifically, he says subsidies for phone carriers should be given only to those offering both regular phone service and Internet broadband to rural areas. To date, carriers offering merely phone service have been able to claim subsidies from the so-called Universal Service Fund, giving them little incentive to roll out out broadband.

Obama also calls for reviewing the decision by the Federal Communications Commission to open the wireless spectrum for competition. He thinks the FCC may not have gone far enough with its recent ruling, according to campaign managers who asked not to be named. He wants to conduct a multiyear review but is leaning toward pushing for the opening of some spectrum on the 700 MHz band so third parties can lease it on a wholesale basis.

This is to ensure that the winners of a pending auction for the spectrum - expected to be large phone carriers like Verizon - don't just sit on the spectrum and not use it. Some fear they may do that to block others from competing with them.

Obama's proposals are supported by Google, which is expected to bid on the wireless spectrum.

The candidate also is in favor of network neutrality, a policy that would prevent Internet service providers from charging companies like Google extra to ensure the speedy transfer of data over the Internet.

Just watched the debate. Prouder than ever of Obama. Think I've got a clearer idea of just what it is that bothers me about some of the criticism I've heard and read about Obama.
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