Obama rocks SF
Guardian photo by Lane Hartwell
Presidential hopeful Barack Obama's speech last night in Bill Graham Civic Auditorium looked more like a rock concert than political rally, with a crowd of about 7,000 snaking through San Francisco for almost a mile and taking several hours just to get inside, past the metal detectors and large contingent of Secret Service agents. "I am fired up!" he told the enthusiastic crowd when he finally appeared on stage at 9 p.m., about two hours late.
Many attendees I interviewed before the speech were eager for Obama to take a bold stand -- to come out and finally support gay marriage, socialized medicine, fundamental political reform, or leaving Iraq completely rather than having massive permanent U.S. military base there -- and he didn't go there, sticking to a fairly safe platform.
But his rhetoric was still inspiring and he captured the potentially epic nature of this race: "What's next for America? We are at a defining moment in our history. The nation is at war. The planet is in peril." And he took a couple of veiled swipes at frontrunner Hillary Clinton -- "When I'm the Democratic nominee, my Republican opponent will not be able to say I voted for the Iraq War because I didn't." -- and the timidity of his party: "The triangulation and poll-tested positions, because we're afraid of what Mitt or Rudy will say about us, just won't do it...If we're going to seize the moment then we can't live in fear of losing."
Click below to listen to Obama's full speech of about 30 minutes:
Part 2
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NECESSARY QUESTIONS
Ten questions that should be asked at the next Democratic debate:
1) Should Benazir Bhutto be considered a hero, and why?
2) What kind of assurance do the American voters need that their votes will count in 2008?
3) If a Republican should win the 2008 presidential election due to clear evidence of voter fraud, and the U.S. Supreme Court refuses to intervene, will you defer to the Supreme Court, and why?
4) Given the increasing rates of suicide and desertion in the United States military, should a military draft be discussed?
5) Given the increasing rates of suicide and desertion in the United States military, would you support soldiers who lie, saying they are “gay,” to intentionally remove themselves from service?
6) Provide one, single, most important accomplishment of the Clinton administration.
7) Provide one, single, most important accomplishment of the Bush administration that you voted for.
8) Do you support the writers’ strike, and why?
9) What is the most fundamental human right?
10) Can U.S. citizenship be legally revoked?
Posted by Louis Anthes | November 16, 2007 07:55 PM
Barack Obama’s First One Hundred Days:
1) Arrest George W. Bush and Richard Cheney for
violations of international human rights and war
crimes laws.
2) Order all federal buildings to reduce energy
consumption by 10% within ninety days, by 25% within
one year, and by 50% before 2012.
3) Immediately propose full public-financing of
all federal elections, and make private contributions to federal elections criminal.
4) Close Guantanamo Bay, order immediate
non-military trials for all persons held there, and do the same for all secret U.S. prisons across the globe.
5) After ordering an audit of all U.S. government communications from 2001-2008, create a presidential “Truth and Reconciliation Commission,” fashioned on the South African model, which should allow citizens and non-citizens who have been victims of the U.S. Government since 2001 to learn what information the federal government, and collaborating corporations, have in their possession.
6) Order all military medical personal to set up domestic “mental health services clinics” throughout the United States, to be open, free of charge, to any person in the United States during the year 2009.
7) Close the permanent military base in
Afghanistan, and immediately order all U.S. troops
home, currently serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.
8) Create a “carbon” tax on all corporate
consumers of fossil fuel energy, and change the tax
structure to impose heavy taxes on personal
consumption of gasoline while subsidizing vehicles
that have a minimum of 40 MPG by the end of 2009 –
make Sports Utility Vehicles illegal.
9) Invite Hugo Chavez, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Hu
Jintao, and the Dalai Lama to an extended stay at Camp David.
10) Warn Israel, Saudi Arabia and India that a full
review of all military and foreign aid to their
governments is under review, pending their full
participation in UN-sponsored Middle East peace talks, to be sponsored by Benazir Bhutto.
After the 100 days… universal health care,
strengthening social security, and a complete audit of the Justice Department and all Federal Courts. And that’s just the first year.
Posted by Louis Anthes | November 19, 2007 06:49 PM