Change must first come within our hearts. We, Ethiopians, in Diaspora need to come to a new understanding that transcends the bitterness, petty grudges, personal animosity and hatred, recrimination and distrust because of the past injustices. At a time when lawful internal opposition is crushed, dissent stamped out, human rights trampled upon, famine is spreading like wildfire, and we cannot afford to stand by idly suspicious and distrustful of each other. We have a higher duty that requires us to purge our hearts of thoughts and feelings that weaken us as a united democratic opposition. The time has come to take a stand, to make a public declaration that our differences are far less important than the urgent need to work together in the cause of freedom, democracy and human rights in Ethiopia. We must replace the self-defeatism and self-doubt which weighs heavily on our hearts today with the courage of a can-do spirit and defiance in the face of Evil. We must stop practicing the politics of personal destruction of our allies and potential allies in the cause and embrace the politics of collective reconciliation and consensus-building. We must begin to cultivate a genuine sense of brotherhood and sisterhood.
One of Ethiopia’s unique virtues is its multi century tradition of the coexistence of people with various Semitic faiths which exist to the present day of Ethiopia. Religious conflict has long affected mankind before any political discourse ever descended to armed conflicts and indeed the subjugation of any nation by conquest of war even in today’s modern geopolitical theater. What makes today’s terrorist conflict more dangerous is it mushrooms not from super power ideology of the cold war, but indeed from long unresolved religious conflicts, injustice and maltreatment that has reignited with such unprecedented zeal for global domination. From the world snapshot and especially the geographic location where our nation lies, Ethiopia remains the only independent nation who has contained these elements of highly explosive mixtures to live together side by side in peace and tranquility for hundreds of years.
By in large, The Ethiopian Christians, Moslems and Jews together have long recognized the individual right to worship free from any coercion and persecution as the only way to social cohesiveness of the nation. Throughout Ethiopia evidence of common inter-religious and ethnic marriages, co-observation of holidays, social assimilation, mutual dependence for trade and even the gallant sacrifices shared to defend the freedom of the country is a rare find anywhere on earth. It is a unique model in play when considering the approximation of the very region to where these religions originated from, and thus remains the great wonder of Ethiopia’s history. This virtue is in our genes passed on from our forefathers, and it is truly Ethiopia’s greatest gift to the world.
The current ruling party represents a self obsessed ethnic faction and denies the reality of mismanagement which is a common tactic that substitutes deliberate ignorance for thoughtful planning and has sworn to dismember the very state it rules and ignorantly planning to create civil conflict between all the ethnic parties. The EPRDF regime who rules with impunity is devoid of the tiniest drop of national interest thereby relinquishing the mandate for Ethiopia’s history or its consequential legacy. The people of Ethiopia and only them who collectively continue to exhibit these important elements for peaceful coexistence among different religious and ethnic groups are the only owners of such asset. Ironically, those were the Ethiopians who in 2005 went out in unprecedented numbers to give the opposition party the clear choice, and more importantly the necessary democratic mandate to govern them. There lies the unique opportunity and the necessary tools to fight global/regional terrorism which the world was never privileged to see under PM Meles Zenawi.
Today, we must develop a new approach to the struggle for democracy in Ethiopia based on an express commitment to a set of core values and principles that will enable us to defer our differences for another time.
That’s why The Solidarity Movement for New Ethiopia, spearheaded by our own human rights activist a young Ethiopian genius, leader Obang Metho, reminds everyone of us that our core values must be built on two compelling principles of no one is free in Ethiopia unless we all are free and to do so we need to put our humanity before ethnicity. How profound and transformational is that declaration or affirmation? If we aspire to these two core principles, open our minds and hearts and collectively pull together, we will soon find ourselves in an indomitable situation. Our unity will be indispensable among so many fragmented parties.
We are becoming a culture of nit-pickers who likes naming, blaming, shaming and who cannot even talk to each other civilly let alone unite and present a credible alternative to a forthright and unwavering leadership. Because of our fragmentation and inability to forge a common democratic front and maintain solidarity, we have been unable to act effectively and help our people in the motherland. Because we have been unable to learn from our past mistakes, make corrections and come to a collective resolution on an action plan to help overcome the challenges facing the motherland, we find ourselves in a state of political paralysis. Because we have been locked into despotism for so long where only one side wins and the other side always loses, we find ourselves in an endless loop of loose-lose outcomes. Because we have been concerned with turf - some political leaders want to maintain insularity and primacy, some civic society leaders run their organizations through a narrow field of vision, political and civic groups often compete for the same base of membership often resulting in conflict and antagonisms, etc. We have been unable to focus our collective energies on the enormous tasks before us.
That’s why I absolutely support and endorse the solidarity movement for representing all Ethiopians, for unity is the one and only way we can forge forward. Now is the time!
If Zenawi leaves tomorrow, the symptom that manifested itself in his dictatorship may be removed; however, the traditional disease of despotism, intolerance of dissent, narrow-mindedness and prejudice will not be gone with him.
So, extreme care must be exercised by all parties not to antagonise or drive the already volatile and violent government to torture and slaughter its own innocent people as revenge again. They (the current government) have their own right like any other party to represent themselves as an incumbent candidate for the coming elections. It is up to the Ethiopian people to stand for themselves and reclaim the freedom they have lost in 2005 election. In 2010, a democratic election can only take place with our unity, common decency and fully monitored by the world community representatives. This time, with an absolute care and without the agony of repeating the 2005 election massacre unnecessarily, all Ethiopians back home and in Diaspora must come together as one to unshackle over a decades of injustice by the repressive EPRDF Party.
We need to ask ourselves that is it well founded and justified to punish others to avenge ourselves? To analyse the moral justifications for vengeance or retribution against those considered to have caused us pain or committed crimes against humanity and question ourselves, if any punishment ultimately satisfies the moral purpose to which it is attached. One does not hate a hailstorm or a plague; one hates only men, not because they are material causes of material damage, but because they are conscious authors of genuine evil.
With the whole concept of vengeance, my deepest concern is for the individual’s creation of a meaning to existence and I see this creation of meaning as inherently bound to an ethical relationship with the other. While every individual is responsible for the creation of his own existence, this existence is always connected with others. I cannot exist without being in relationship with other people. My presence in the world, the choices I make, even the choices I make not to make choices, impacts on others- immobile or in action; we always weigh upon the earth. Every refusal is a choice; every silence has a voice… each of my actions by falling into the world creates a new situation for the other. We all have something to learn from one another irrespective of our core knowledge.
In order to fully recognise the humanity of another, one must be able to accept and recognise the ambiguous nature of both self and other. A ‘will to freedom’ can never be achieved at the cost of another’s freedom, because to do so would in effect be a denial of both one’s own true humanity and that of the person one seeks to master.
A reciprocal interpersonal bond is essentially destroyed when one person abuses the other as thing or ostracises because he does not belong to their social preferences, when a person is degraded and stripped of his subjectivity and freedom and is treated as an object. Do we need to struggle with ourselves to justify the notion of one individual essentially claiming mastery over another individual through an act of vengeance? Having endured life as a citizen in a torturous and tumultuous country of mine, I am aware of the horrific acts of brutality committed by the current government. I acknowledge that such acts awaken a deeply felt need for retribution. Watching the degradation of our fellow humans to the status of objects arouses in society a passionate hatred and rage against the perpetuators of the evil. When there is great suffering, there is an almost primeval need to avenge, to make it right, to obliterate the horror of dehumanisation from memory and restore a balance or a natural order where evil once dominated.
Essentially, this need is a cry for the restoration of humanity, for the recognition by the abuser that the greatest crime was to treat the victim as non-human, a thing- to make the abuser understand the impact of his causing of discomfort amongst us all and crime on another person. One understands torture by undergoing it. Therefore, the demand for vengeance is the demand for the abuser to exchange situations with his former victim, and through himself becoming a victim, viscerally understanding his crime. While it would be difficult to criticise the immediate acts of vengeance by particular individuals in particular situations, it always has a disquieting character. While one may understand the reasons for acting on the deep wells of hatred and rage, when an avenger aspires to set himself up as judge, the very notion of vengeance becomes suspect: but if we look into our own depths, who among us dares say: I am better than that man? It requires a lot of arrogance and very little imagination to judge another. While an action taken to redress a wrong may stem from a desire to restore the balance of justice, it may equally stem from the desire to power and mastery that slumbers in all of us. Who can say if the avenging act is retribution, or tyranny? We must be aware that if personal acts of revenge or retribution are undertaken, if one acts as judge and executioner in response to a passionate hate, one simply replaces one abomination with another. One act of revenge calls for another act of revenge, evil engenders evil, and injustices pile up without wiping one another out as Gandhi put it, “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind”.
Therefore, the rule of law justly forbids individual acts of retribution, and in removing judgement to the impartial justice system it effectively distances the act of vengeance or punishment from the passionate hate that demands it. Social justice does not condemn the aggressor in his totality, as mob justice does, but rather condemns the perpetrator as the agent of evil acts repudiated by society. One needs to act positively, swiftly above all with broad common sense. Every person or every leader commences his struggle for the pursuit of happiness for mankind and as time unfolds sinks himself into corruption and regresses back to the same old system of injustice.
However, the raw emotion simmering below the justice system demands that suffering be avenged, and there is great anger and frustration when this right is perceived to be denied. But even if the abuser feels what his victim felt, it won’t remedy the evil the abuser caused: it will not balance the wrong committed. While we seek vengeance as a way of balancing the scales of justice, in reality we are left with the realisation that we cannot ever control the other in his freedom. We can never compel the aggressor to feel the pain of the original suffering. We cannot compel regret or repentance. We can never reach the core of any individual. So, if the intent of vengeance is to reassert the reciprocity of human relations, to restore a balance to the world, then that intent can never be satisfied.
Although all punishments are partially a failure, inevitably, justice/retribution is necessary if only to recognise the evil that is in man. When a man deliberately tries to degrade man by reducing him to a thing, nothing can compensate for the abomination he causes to erupt on earth. There resides the sole sin against man. The mistake is to think that vengeance achieves the moral purpose it sets out to achieve. This is rarely possible. Vengeance cannot compel the freedom of a person, the aggressor, to create anything other than what he wants to create for himself. Vengeance is not the serene recovery of a reasonable and just order. If punishment or vengeance is to have any point, it’s not as a balancing or restorative measure, but rather as a public acknowledgement of humanity’s refusal to accept degrading behaviours.
I see the ethical perspective as essentially a constant questioning of individual motives and intentions. The meaning of one’s existence emerges through an active acknowledgement of the ambiguities of the past, present and future, of a life lived in consciousness of death, and of the relationship of self and other. Ambiguity is at the core of what it means to be human. The ethics built on that ambiguity bears within it not the certainty of success, but the acceptance of the possibility of failure. It may not be possible to compel the aggressor to understand or repent his crimes against humanity: it may not be possible to balance wrongs; all punishment may be a failure- but nevertheless the human cry for meaning demands that the degradation of humanity can never be ignored: their crimes have struck at our own hearts.
It is our values, our reasons to live that are affirmed by their punishment and yet the questions remain, as significant today as eighteen or sixty years ago: What does humanity lose in the act of vengeance? And what does it gain, if anything?
I accept your genuine comments, suggestions and criticisms on all of my articles and about anything without throwing punches for NO reason.
For those who have read my comments of “LET US IMPROVISE”, this is a concrete opinion for those who have commented for ideas how we are going to do it and demanded enough of talking the talk and demanded an action that will make every one start walking the walk. I am calling on all Diaspora Ethiopians and their community members and leaders, all political parties and their support groups, grassroots advocates and activists, religious organizations and their members and concerned individuals to join at a central convention place and facilitate a grand dialogue to resolve all issues that divide us.
WE ARE MANY BUT WE'RE ONE
We must urgently open dialogue on what is good for our unity in our community and the country our children will inherit.
We need to initiate broad discussion about the core issues that bind Diaspora Ethiopians. I believe there is widespread support among Diaspora Ethiopians on the need to work together on the issues of democratic institution-building for basic freedoms, unity and protection of human rights. I believe it is necessary to provide a public discussion of principles and intentions of our efforts to ensure maximum transparency and accountability.
There shall be no precondition for participation in the dialogue except for philosophical agreement on the two core principles mentioned above. Second, leadership and active participation in the dialogue must not be left entirely to the business as usual suspects of the academics, the political party leaders and the partisan advocates. All segments of the Ethiopian Diaspora community must be encouraged to participate in the dialogue. Most of all, the involvement and participation of the younger generation of Ethiopians and women is paramount.
Effective action requires active involvement of these two segments of the population. Young people and women bring dynamism, energy, fresh ideas, and renewed commitment to the cause. If there is any doubt about the enormous role women can play in defending freedom, democracy and human rights in Ethiopia, one need only look at the heroic contributions of Birtukan Mideksa. We should insist on the full engagement of women and young people, not only in this dialogue, in our community discussion activities.
We must make a clean break with the troubled dialogue of the past which emphasized ethnic, linguistic and regional differences, historical grievances and political or ideological differences.
We have a duty to mend our aching hearts with a clear message that says Ethiopians in the Diaspora have resolved to speak in one voice for the cause of democracy, freedom, unity in our community and human rights in Ethiopia.
As Barack Obama thoughtfully reflected on the situation in America, “Our problems are rooted in past mistakes, not our capacity for future greatness.” One can make the same argument for Ethiopians. We must not be prisoners of past mistakes; rather we should use genuine dialogue and consensus-building as weapons of liberation and transform ourselves into a mighty force of solidarity in Diaspora Ethiopian communities and democratic change in Ethiopia.
Our beautiful dream for the Ethiopia that our children will inherit should be one where the rule of law is woven into the fabric of the society and permeates the deepest recesses of the consciences of every Ethiopian; where every man, woman and child shall have the freedom of opportunity; where there is full legal and social equality among men and women; where one’s ethnic, linguistic or regional origins are respected and protected by law; where the free press performs its natural office of informing citizens and serving as a watchdog on government corruption and abuse of power; and where no person will be imprisoned or persecuted because of their political ideas or beliefs.
These are my “beautiful dreams” for Ethiopia, as I hope they are for many Ethiopians in the Diaspora. That is why I have committed myself to the cause. I have no illusions about the enormity of the task and difficulty of the enterprise we are about to undertake. Some well-intentioned people might be skeptical of the call to dialogue and my urgent plea on behalf of this beautiful dream. Some may consider it idealistic and impractical. Some will laugh boisterously and bet our efforts will fail. As some have disdainfully questioned many times before, some will do so again: How can some aspire to serious dialogue when some can not even talk to each other under ordinary circumstances. Let some laugh! But we should not be discouraged in our efforts to form a united Ethiopian Diaspora voice for freedom, democracy, solidarity and human rights in our communities where we live that undoubtedly will reflect back to Ethiopia. The true test of our success is in holding the dialogue by putting the urgent needs of our unity in our Diaspora all Ethiopian communities and above our own narrow interests. We must act now and begin the dialogue.
Tomorrow is too late. That’s why I am calling on all Ethiopians and ethnic communities in the Diaspora to come together with the fierce urgency of now and sit together at a dialogue of brotherhood and sisterhood and form a united alliance in respect to our ethnic communities.
We cannot afford to sit down with folded arms and wait for something to happen. We must act now as a united Ethiopian Diaspora force. If we don’t, a bad situation could become dramatically worse. We did not arrive at our present predicament suddenly or by some accident of history. What we see today has been unfolding for the last 18 years. During this period, many Diaspora Ethiopians stood watching on the sidelines in silence, and did nothing because of various petty issues not worth mentioning. That option is no longer available to us. It’s time to move on to a brand new day with ray of hope reflecting on each and every one of us.
We should all forward our ideas and a centralized convention venue with specific and concrete proposals for a Diaspora dialogue in the foreseeable future. For now, I plead earnestly with all Ethiopians and their respective ethnic communities in the Diaspora to close ranks, open hearts and minds, shake hands and once again prepare for a new dawn in our community that eventually echoing back to our homeland.
"The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America - I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you - we as a people will get there," Obama said in Chicago, Illinois, before an estimated crowd of up to 240,000 people.
Barack Obama wrote a new chapter into US history becoming the first African-American elected president, capping a stunning rise which in just four years propelled him into the Oval Office.
With unflagging energy and vitality, he took on the political establishment, defeating former first lady Hillary Clinton in the party primaries, overturned the perception that America was not ready to vote for a black president, and crushed the weight of the Republican attack machine.
Four short years ago, Obama was just a little-known but charismatic Chicago politician with a ready smile, who wowed the 2004 Democratic convention with a dazzling speech. The world’s greatest boxing champion, Ali, once said, “Champions must have skill and good will. The good will must be stronger than the skill”.
Certainly, Barack Obama possesses both qualities enormously and used them effectively to achieve a long, overdue dream, walk to freedom. Obama said “America change is now or never…, America you have spoken…., this is your time…. and this is your choice…..” and obviously, the choice was manifested on November 4th, 2008 electing him as their president to the White House. www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1856914,00.html
The next biggest choice and change would be the name of the White House which is outdated and it was named at the time of white domination and the American people need to carry on with the choice and change by naming it with universal names such as American House, Open House, Lincoln House or Obama House to mark this audacity of historic hope and change in progress.
"There is no a black America, and white America and Latino America and Asian America- there's the United States of America," he proclaimed then. The same is true if I say there is no a Black House, and White House and Latino House and Asian House- there is the American House, …..
It was a message he has used to ignite a new fervor and excitement in a country angered by the economic crisis which has dragged down the world's top economy and sickened by the Iraq war.
In defying the odds, the 47 year old, Obama has reshaped conventional wisdom on how to pay for a successful White House bid by harnessing the Internet as a powerful fund-raising tool.
As a community organizer, he understood that the younger generation is the locomotive of change. Obama directly addressed and motivated the young generation and middle income communities to embrace a new agenda called ‘change we believe in’. By so doing he galvanized millions of young Americans to enroll for change and preached so well that America change is now or never. On the contrary John McCain solely depended on traditional followers that are the haves and CEOs.
McCain lacked mass base, resources and energy to bring to Americans the change they want in the 21st century.
Obama’s campaign also put together a formidable grass-roots organization, especially in key battleground states, which in the end gave him an unstoppable momentum towards the White House.
The son of a Kenyan, African, father and a white mother from Kansas, America, Obama has sought to rise above the issue of race and project himself as the candidate for all Americans.
But his victory on will remain bittersweet for Obama, after the woman who raised him to believe he would be whatever he wanted to be passed away just hours before his crowning moment.
His white maternal grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, whom he called "Toot" lost her battle with cancer in her home in Hawaii, never living to see Obama realize the aspirations of generations. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7436720.stm
In a rare show of emotion, from a man who has been seen as cool and collected throughout the grueling 21-month campaign, tears streamed down Obama's face at a North Carolina rally.
His voice thick with grief, Obama said this was a "bitter-sweet time for me. She is going home".
Obama recapped his grandmother's life from her birth in 1922 and her marriage to his grandfather, their struggles through the Great Depression and with his infant mother through World War II.
"She was one of those quiet heroes that we have all across America," said Obama. "They're not famous. Their names aren't in the newspapers," he said, vowing to fight for all the country's quiet heroes.
Born in Hawaii on August 4, 1961, Obama's path to the White House has not been backed by the privilege and wealth often enjoyed by past candidates.
His father left when he was just two, and the young Obama later moved to Indonesia with his mother, Ann, when she re-married.
He spent several years in Jakarta, before returning to Hawaii to live with his maternal grandparents when he was in his teens.
After attending Columbia University in New York, Obama went to the elite Harvard Law School, where he was the first black American to be president of the influential Harvard Law Review.
It was while working at a Chicago law firm that he met and then married Michelle, a fellow lawyer, in 1992. The couple has two young daughters, Malia 10, and Sasha, seven.
On November 4 the world, as it expected, saw an African American, Barack Obama, rise to the highest post of the most powerful nation on Earth. It's how everything that happened with black people and the drastic changes were in the past, and for once it's in the present and we can have a stake.
I screamed so loudly and cried during his victory speech. Words cannot describe how proud I am of Barack Obama and his accomplishments. I have followed his race repeatedly, joined barackobama.com site and most importantly I began to believe that he could win during his campaign. The road ahead of us will be difficult and the fight will be hard, but last night was a great victory, and I honestly believed that Obama can beat John McCain.
I watched McCain's speech and I didn't see change- I saw the same old politics and the same legacy of elderly Anglo Saxon men leading America. Americans want real change! They want a better foreign policy that is not driven by arrogant bully tactics. They want an educational system that actually doesn't leave a child behind. They want a leader who knows more about the economy than I know, I know and I do. They want a leader who understands the complexity of race relations in America and civil rights issues.
And dammed, I want somebody that looks like me in a leadership role for a change!
I was so excited watching history being made - the election of Barack Obama, the first black president. Until now, the history of the black civil rights movement in America has been largely that - history. The great moments and characters that define it - the desegregation of schools, the "I Have a Dream" speech of 1963, the Rosa Parks and Martin Luther Kings - serve as the milestones describing the slow transition to equal rights. For blacks living being marginalized in a just and equal society is equal to prisoner’s in a death raw waiting for their doomsday to come.
Who will forget the infamous Governor of Alabama, George Wallace, who issued a proclamation against integration and stood in a doorway to prevent two black students enrolling at the University of Alabama in the 60s?
In this planet earth there is no place where you could find respect for black race including our own Africa. Blacks are facing insults, beating and killing for exercising their right to speak up, belong to any party they choose and vote in any kind of elections by their own government who have low expectations and respect for their own black people.
The monkey chant in European sport stadiums and the street attack by white supremacists on European streets and the Asian countries prejudice against black people is all known.
Now, Americans by putting a black person as their leader has now challenged the world to show respect for fellow black people wherever they are.
I have no doubt; however, it is only in America blacks can reach to the highest office through democratic election living as members of the minority community. This could not have been possible in Europe and you should not even think in Asia and Australia.
We as a people congratulate Americans for their unity as “one people” and for electing Barack Obama as their president. Congratulations!
Watching a black man become president is an inspiration, a reflection that the fabled land of opportunity has opened the doors to people of colour as well, a coup for blacks, the United States and the world.
It's very inspiring to know we've gone from nowhere to somewhere, from nobody to somebody and from slavery to the White House having a black man as president.
It will be a great influence on all the people that are racist against blacks. Obama's election is one of the greatest achievements for America and for black people around the world living in obscurity.
Racism is far more widespread in the United States, UK and other countries than in Australia. The race issue is not as prevalent in Australia as in the States, with its gangs and crime.
I don't think the country’s politicians are sensitive to the subtleties of Australian race issues. Still, the effect of having an intelligent, articulate black man on TV on a regular basis can't help but have a positive effect.
Yet again, you can't underestimate the value of breaking those stereotypes. To do so Australia and other countries must give equal opportunity and allow black people/artists to take part in the media rather than paint white people’s faces as black to take part in comedy and artistic roles. There are more black artists equally talented if not overly artistic to do the job.
To see the inauguration video, search for "President Barack Obama 2009 Inauguration and Address" on youtube search line after you finish viewing.
For Australia, apologizing to the stolen generation is just symbolic when the road to recovery and change is so steep by not giving Aborigines and other blacks an opportunity and support, to perform in the mainstream artistic industry and managerial positions, without resenting and discriminating.
Nevertheless, one day change will come to Australia that a black man will be the leader of the Democratic Republic of Australia, New Zealand, UK and other European and Asian countries.
At last! With role models like Obama and new generations raised in a multicultural mix, we're finally nearing the point where a candidate of colour will no longer be an issue.
We Ethiopians are plagued by what has become a destructive political culture that we have inherited from our past generations.
The old politics of fear tactics that disseminated to the public by few good natured naïve or/and evil individuals including some egotistic need not to be taken so gravely and avoided but discussed mutually to arrive at an amicable resolution for a common cause.
We need to build a system of transparency, honesty and accountability if we all Ethiopians need to work together in a united effort.
We often attempt to destroy instead of building on or improving the existing projects, organizations and other supportive entities, to fulfill our self-righteousness.
We should also not be disconcerted by those people who have weighed down our contributions and unity by creating division, destruction, rumor mongering, mischief, blaming, lying, envying rather than commending those who have achieved enormously in their personal life or helping others and those who are sharpening and strengthening their self-interest.
At sometime in our lives, no doubt we men deserved our shame for our past mistakes, but as justified as they may be, naming, blaming and shaming our fellow comrades are solid barriers to connecting, understanding and only serves to create bitterness, widening isolation and more wounding.
Therefore, we must drop our culturally inherited blame game and not pursue who is wrong and right as this will not serve our purpose and see the good side of our common cause and start our journey of healing.
The blame game will stop when we understand each other in ways that delight us, or inspire our compassion, revealing our true identity when communicating electronically or visually rather than using nicknames and fake identities which will create more suspicion and limits heart to heart interactions and encouraging each other with healing words and, most of all, offering our recognition and gratitude for the good works we have done.
If honesty is the best policy why conceal our identity. Only if we reveal our true identity to each other that we will be able to redeem our mistakes and communicate honestly and earnestly.
If all is not well and taken too far, it becomes the pursuit of power and self-interest appears as controlling behavior, bullying and insensitive to the needs of everyone.
Let us improvise our rich society. We need to coordinate connections to have the Barack Obama’s new message of “hope and change” in our attitude and reach out across all Ethiopians by all means necessary.
Forgive me, this, may be, is not construed as comparison but, if Obama and America can make a change, we, as Ethiopians and Ethiopia can make huge difference. Yichalal!!
The right to solidify our unity should not be restricted by race, gender, belief, social status, intelligence, or status of other Ethiopian ethnic communities. We all are Ethiopians regardless of our different ethnic communities, organizations and any political parties we choose to belong.
Barack Obama’s big impact to making his message of hope and change became a reality because of his uniting message to the American people when he said, “there is not a black America and a white America and Latino America and Asian America – there is the United States of America”. “We are not collection of red states and blue states – we are the United States”.
Today, some ethnic Ethiopians living around the world do not interact with their fellow Ethiopians because of a whole lot of past grievances, political and ideology differences. I highly respect and sympathize with them knowing how my culture back home operate without going in to detail as you all know leaving that to your imagination.
However, irrespective of our interactions, we share the love of our mother land and our families and friends back home.
We should not hold grudges for our past, force and condemn individuals for they have their own unique views like ours for not taking part in any organizations, parties and community endeavors. We need to accentuate positive moral principles and welcome every Ethiopian with an open mind and a warm heart.
We should respect everyone regardless of their commentary values for just taking part to make a difference.
We can not afford not to smile to each other, to feel resentment and to dwell on the past. It is time to move on embracing, not denigrating, each other.
We should not see differences as divisions rather is our right to exercise our freedom to do what’s right for ourselves without harboring hatred and alienations from our community, friends and common ideals.
By abandoning our unity, we are neglecting the struggle for reversing the alarming danger of ethnic violence and potential disintegration of Ethiopia. This further tears apart the community than uniting. Consequently, this will lead the struggle for democracy and freedom for all Ethiopians in disarray.
The choice is ours; we either disengage ourselves from political process out of frustration or reclaim the unity we lost for achieving higher purpose. If we, Ethiopians, wish to live in democracy, prosperity and dignity disengaging ourselves is not the best choice. The choice we should all have, unity, is apparently difficult but with new dream and approach, it is attainable.
The political process of Ethiopia has been a mixture of genuine struggle for democracy, ethnic politics, prejudice, corruption, personal animosity, defamation of political figures and more. All are sources of division, but there are more important reasons that unite us than the reasons divide us.
As Obama did in his campaign, great American leaders never put their race or ethnicity before their humanity and believed in the American motto of ‘E pluribus Unum’ – out of many, that we are, one!
Yes, out of many, we are one! This is my message for all Ethiopians including for those who are fighting to liberate the Oromiffa-speaking side or our Ethiopian Oromo Community Associations, for those who claim to be protectors of the Tigrians or our Tigrian Communities and the predominantly governing elites of Amharas or Ethiopian Communities as others observe, it is run by Amharas leading to its fragmentation due to political differences of the people managing the community monopolizing to one ethnic group inevitably.
However, as a prime founding member of the first Ethiopian community, I strongly object to that notion because of my indelible beliefs and ideals that it should and stands and serves all Ethiopians without all the prejudices. Ethiopia is a multicultural society and the people are interrelated by marriages, religions, strong friendships and good neighbourhood beliefs.
It is time to realize, Obama’s words, that “our stories are singular but our destiny is shared,” it is time to understand that no one is free until we all are free - it is time to join the Solidarity Movement for New Ethiopia to bring real change to our own country.
Barack Obama told supporters that "change has come to America" as he claimed victory in a historic presidential election.
It is our turn now to emulate the great principle and bring change in our community consequently to our country, Ethiopia, in a united effort
”…And to all those who have wondered if America’s beacon still burns as bright, tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth but from the enduring power of our ideals – democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope! That’s the true genius of America! That America can change! Our union can be perfected!” - President-elect Barrack Obama said on November 4th, 2008.
The new impetus of Solidarity movement for New Ethiopia seems, in comparison to Obama’s Doctrine, a genuine movement of “hope and change” that represents “the united states of Ethiopia”.
This movement is spearheaded by genius of Ethiopia Obang Metho, Executive member of the Solidarity Movement for New Ethiopia, from Anuak, Gambella, Southwestern region of Ethiopia fully supported by all Ethiopian communities around the world and getting momentum every day and currently he’s been invited by Ethiopian community in London to speak to Ethiopians. Obang is highly driven by Obama’s doctrine, I hope as we all do, is currently preaching what he practices all around the world.
Obang Metho asked all Ethiopians to focus on our humanity before ethnicity and wanted us to acknowledge no Ethiopian is free until we all are free! Obang has convincingly argued why opposition political leadership cannot provide any significant change unless the rank and file of the respective parties holds them accountable. He convincingly argued that the tyrannical regime in Ethiopia is the only beneficiary of the division.
To my knowledge, Obang Metho has been non partisan, like Obama inspirational speaker, good Ethiopian and, most of all, stood for Ethiopian territorial integrity and unity among its people. What I saw in Obang is a decent unifying character and a character that truly transcends partisan and ethnic politics.
The challenge for him is to overcome the incongruent political reality and inspire the public with his vision of truly, united, democratic, and prosperous Ethiopia. Through Ethiopian Solidarity Forum he has started the long and arduous journey to convince ordinary citizens and politicians alike to abandon their most deeply held positions in an effort to bring an end to self destructive political culture and put their country before self-interest.
If Obang’s message is about unity and as a people we must refocus all our energies to fight for common cause rather than fight among ourselves. My observation may be limited but I cannot accept anything without reasoning. Regardless of his ethnic background, Obang should be accepted and listened to any democratic speeches he is making about our country, Ethiopia, with an open mind.
It is astonishing that recently I was inspired by his conviction and fervently followed Obang’s forum, discussion conferences and his captivating speeches and I have observed a much larger turnout for meetings called by opposition whose speakers were Amharas, Oromos, and Tigrians. In the recent past, there was a large scale debate on the merit of attending or not attending the meeting called by controversial figures but with dubious vision for Ethiopian people unity and territorial integrity. Surprisingly, some supporters of the oppositions have tirelessly worked in wide scale propaganda and campaigned to go out and participate in these meetings.
Why not the propagandists did the same for Obang’s clear message of unity? Are we discriminating among the messengers? Are we down playing the wisdom of the humanity loving minority leaders? Are we regarding the messages of persons coming from broader ethnic group as superior? It appears to me that we still have to fight against prejudice. If we do not win the cultural war we will have difficulties to win the political war. The idea of traveling in one direction must end for Ethiopia and Ethiopians and must use all the avenues that are available.
While America seems to be ready for black president, we Ethiopians seem to have a problem with ethnic background. The greater danger we face in opposition group, as Obang notes, is to allow new walls that divide us. Opposition groups and their supporters are not perfect. They make mistakes, and there are occasions that their actions do not match with what they preach, this is just one of the many hang-ups all oppositions are facing.
I conclude by saying that our political culture must focus on the issues, not on the messengers, that may help us tearing down the walls that divide us. Obang could be one of the persons who are capable of bringing the divided Ethiopians to the roundtable that desperately needed. But, he cannot do it alone!!
We can enrich our Ethiopian community in Diaspora while practicing solidarity to unite all Ethiopian ethnic groups by building bridges to connect everyone by delegating respective leaders from each group regardless of our differences and ethnicity by embracing our humanity and ONE Ethiopia. As we reach out to each other and celebrate our differences and hope for the emergence of New Ethiopia.
Therefore, I’m asking all members of the various Ethiopian ethnic communities and Ethiopian communities to invite the charismatic Obang Metho with a united spirit to speak about his principles, objectives and aspirations of the formidable missions of Solidarity Movement for New Ethiopia. Let’s bring change to Ethiopia by bridging change in our community.
The Ethiopian communities should take a leading role to reach out to all Ethiopians and ethnic communities by radio announcements, mail, e-mail, on the web, phone, word of mouth and other ways deemed necessary to connect and have a constructive dialogue to form solidarity for New Ethiopia and invite Obang jointly.
Finally, America, by not electing African-American, Los Angeles Mayor, Tom Bradley as California governor in the 1982 campaign, changed the “no you can’t” response to the “yes we can” that led to the election of Senator Barrack Obama as the 44th United States President on November 4, 2008.
Barack Obama's remarkable rise really does equate with his campaign's theme: "Change you can believe in." In that many Americans today are concerned, even fearful, of what their future holds. Obama has demonstrated sound judgement; excellent decision making abilities and a sincere character and electing him president would be a fundamental change in leadership for America. I wouldn’t be wrong if I say that he truly is the people’s prince because he is a formidable candidate in American history who inspired millions of people around the world and we all have seen that a sea of people in America rallies and around the world absolutely adored and endorsed him to be the next President of United States of America who, undoubtedly, will bring change and re-instill the American dream and bring about peace and stability in the world.
BY FAR THE BEST MAN I have read the stories of past presidents of America and have seen others in my life time, only a handful has been extraordinaire influential people like Senator Barack Obama. Amazingly, I read about the most prominent United States newspapers, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times & Chicago Tribune, have endorsed Senator Barack Obama to become the next United States President by praising his leadership ability, intelligence and political skill while blasting, both his opponents, Senator McCain and his running mate Gov. Sarah Palin.
Washington Post described Obama as “a man of supple intelligence, with a nuanced grasp of complex issues and evident skill at conciliation and consensus-building”. The Post also wrote, “Mr. Obama has the potential to become a great president”. Los Angeles Times backed Obama on its Website editorial saying, “a leader who demonstrates thoughtful calm and grace under pressure”. Obama’s hometown newspaper, Chicago Tribune, is the first time it has come out to support a democratic candidate since its founding in 1847, says. The number of United States newspapers endorsing Obama in the November 4 election has reached 51, against 16 for his rival Senator McCain, a tally by the Editor and Publisher trade journal. Therefore, my conclusion is, needless to say, Senator Barack Obama is by far the best man for the President, Commander in Chief, of the United States of America.
For more than 20 months, Obama has been running for president against tough and experienced opponents. There have been some serious challenges during this time, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the revolt by some of Senator Hillary Clinton's supporters, but he has demonstrated the kind of calm leadership, intelligence and skillful communicating that will be needed as America deals with the present economic crisis.
Obama, who has led McCain by a relatively narrow margin over weeks, now has been deliberate and careful; never losing his cool, acting presidential, if you will, before voters decide if that indeed will be his next job. McCain has failed to sound any consistent themes; was all over the map during his final debate over the federal bailout package; McCain looked as if he has hearing problem when he incorrectly misquoted Obama’s stand on Joe the plumber’s taxation problem, looking for more criticism on Obama’s past performances rather than tangible messages of his own. He said to Obama’s face, “The witch you associated with”. Obama seemed unflappable.
Whenever Obama is speaking about very important issues, McCain was like African meerkat on the lookout looking everywhere erratically and his eyes blink 100 miles an hour grimacing and apprehensively. He looked so abrupt and smart every time Obama is telling the truth about his negative campaigning and issues of unworthiness, McCain recoils and buries his head on to his note pretending to take what was being said.
One very important thing I couldn’t understand why McCain started off the debate by mentioning the death of JFK in Dallas. I do hope that nothing like that will happen this time. Should anything happen to Obama, the Vietnam veteran is accountable. He is carrying too much anger on his chest. Because he made a huge mistake by picking Sarah Palin, he has no choice but to embrace, impress, uplift her spirit by saying “she is a role model and I am proud of her”. Simply Pathetic! For the current economic situation, he has come up with a $300 billion plan to buy distressed mortgages, without any description of how he would pay for it.
So far, the experienced candidate, “I know this and that, I have been there, I can fix it” Fix what? Damn, tell us. McCain has acted more like a first-timer on the national stage in contrast to Obama's consistency and calm. Clearly, Palin is not yet ready to lead the country, but just as clearly she has struck a chord with many conservative and working-class voters and at least given the ticket a chance. While McCain's advisers were wrong to shield her for so long from journalists, the media's mockery has only added to her stature among supporters, already angry over the nearly universal adulation granted Obama. Palin, however, is not the main issue. Eight years of the Bush administration have left America weary and yearning for hope. McCain not AcGain! Obama, for many reasons, has given many people a sense of hope- change that America needs.
GLOBAL ISSUE Issues such as climate change and energy will have to be dealt with during a painful recession. The next president will need the kind of qualities that Barack Obama has demonstrated in his long and historic fight to lead the United States of America. I worry about the environment and how America may not be the only cause of global warming, but is the biggest contributor to it. America need to focus more on alternative fuels and sources...nuclear will only be a short term answer... Change is needed. Americans have gone on in an oversized hunger for oil and not focused on what their choices in their past have done to impact their children's futures. American schools are having less and less funding so their future leaders of tomorrow are not getting the full educations needed to be able to make educated decisions they will be forced to make. How can they lead and make educated decisions without an education? I'm hearing more solutions than excuses from Obama. The only thing that McCain and I agree on is marriage; I think it should be only between a Man & a Woman. But I think that Gays should be able to have a lawfully binding ... civil unions that allow them the same financial rights as married heterosexual couples. The only difference is marriage is reserved for between a Man & a Woman...sorry it's Biblical...abortions, I believe woman have a right to a choice but I also believe after a certain point the fetus/baby has a right to life. Abortion should only be used in the event of rape or Extenuating circumstances.
RACIAL RHETORIC John “That One” McCain and Sarah “That Winker” Palin have a fundamental moral and leadership responsibility to denounce the violent rhetoric that has pervaded their recent political rallies instead of screaming along encouraging hatred. When rally attendees shout out such attacks as 'terrorist' or 'kill him' about Senator Barack Obama, when they are cheered on by crowds incited by McCain-Palin rhetoric -- it is chilling that McCain and Palin do nothing to object but show their own agression instead. I must have incorrectly heard him say “whip his …you know what? Or he really meant it. America do you really want this man to be your president? Everyone should say I don’t because his anger is going to put you back into unwanted war again. Why isn't McCain doing anything about his supporters shouting disgracefully at his rallies? You could see him jerk when someone shouted out terrorist at one of his rallies, but he has said nothing about it. This is not an honorable man running an honorable campaign. This is a desperate man “say anything, do anything” racing against time and trying to energize his base and losing it. He just called his followers his fellow prisoners at a rally. McCain called on rally supporters, "Friends, we've got them just where we want them," he said. "What America needs in this hour is a fighter”. He sounded like George Bush. McCain has already stirred the pots of hatred that he's brewed. Backing off now doesn't mean much, because his message has already been delivered by his messenger Barbie doll, Palin. She is definitely a pit-bull in lipstick; someone needs to put her back in the kennel.
Barack Obama and John McCain traded jibes at a black-tie charity dinner in New York. McCain at the end of his night’s jokes said, “Today, it’s a world away from the crude and prideful bigotry of that time, and good riddance. I can’t wish my opponent luck — but I do wish him well.” I find some of his jokes were venomous and full of bigotry and I saw a lot of people laughing to tears including Hillary Clinton. McCain seemed like on full last minute campaign again he may be “did not get it” this was supposed to be a light hearted charity dinner. Then it was barrack Obama’s turn telling jokes about the housing crisis, saying it had hit McCain and his multiple homes heavier than most. “Contrary to the rumors, I was not born in a manger,” he said, also winning laughs for returning to the “that one” comment from McCain and delivering a one-liner about his middle name, Hussein. Obama’s jokes were crisp and jovial, none evasive. “Many of you know that I got my name, Barack, from my father. What you may not know is that Barack is actually Swahili for ‘that one’,” he said, referring to his Kenyan father. “And I got my middle name from somebody who obviously didn’t think I’d ever run for president,” Obama said. “But to name my greatest strength I guess it would be my humility. Greatest weakness, it’s possible that I’m a little too awesome.”
SENATORS OBAMA & McCAIN ROAST EACH OTHER AT ALFRED E. SMITH GLOVES OFF DINNER
To see McCain's turn, search for "McCain roasts Obama at Alfred E. Smith(Full video)"
In a world where unspeakable violence is too often promulgated by extremists, it is no small or trivial matter to call someone a terrorist or to incite potentially dangerous individuals toward violence. John McCain and Sarah Palin are walking a very thin line in pretending not to hear the hateful invectives spewed at their rallies. McCain should end this line of attack in the strongest possible terms. Anything less puts McCain in the same camp as the racists and extremists of the bygone era and those who are bringing their angry rhetoric to his campaign events. “I know there are some people who won’t vote for me because I’m black, and that’s ok,” said Democratic candidate Barack Obama.Even as the economy seems to be in freefall, as Americans grapple with whether to vote for Obama, the first African American presidential nominee, or his Republican opponent, John McCain, it’s a decision unavoidably colored by race whether they like it or not. Barack Obama, the son of a white American mother and a black father from Kenya, says his race is not an issue for him. “I self-identify as African American. That’s how I’m treated and that’s how I’m viewed, and I’m proud of it.”But, unquestionably, his race is an issue for some Americans. If in any case, God forbid some how, Obama loses this election, it has to be written again in American history that America still don’t accept blacks in any higher positions than them and they implicitly continue to show their racist attitudes. However, if Obama wins this election, he won it because of his formidable campaigning strategy and intelligent management skills that he has shown us throughout his campaign. Joe Trippi, was a former Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley’s deputy campaign manager, a Democratic political consultant and an analyst for CBS News, says that Obama is running to be America’s president, “not African-American’s president or White-American’s president, but everybody’s president”. In fact, race is a political hot potato that burns anyone who gets close. When Hillary Clinton said she more than Obama appealed to “hard-working Americans, white Americans,” she was accused of exploiting the racial divide. When Sarah Palin tells her crowds Obama doesn’t see America like they do, she says she means he’s an elitist. Others see that as a racial issue.
The race issue forced Obama to tackle race in America head-on, in a speech last March in Philadelphia where he said,” I have asserted a firm conviction - a conviction rooted in my faith in God and my faith in the American people - that working together we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds, and that in fact we have no choice if we are to continue on the path of a more perfect union.”
University of Washington social psychologist Anthony Greenwald says, “Implicit bias,” or unconscious attitudes don’t control behavior but they lurk in all of us. When it comes to Americans’ attitudes on race, he found a widespread preference for whites.
This is also a wakeup call to world news media manipulation including that of UK and Australian media hype to play an equitable game when reporting or writing about Obama or other high status blacks around the world. Media too often play bigotry by portraying deep-seated jealousy, inferiority complex and so often the truth will suffer for such ridiculous arrogance. It should not only be limited to their misfortune and tumbling but their achievement as well. I have seen very limited news of Barack Obama but a lot of news on his opponents in the Australian news media. We do not see and hear much about, Dr. Condoleezza Rice, US Secretary of State, all the efforts she is making around the world trying to bring peace and stability. But we have seen and read almost everyday about the former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright when she was making the same effort. These are just tip of the iceberg without going into details of argy-bargy because you all know what’s being said here. Time to move on! Time for change! Read......
David Sears from UCLA calls it, racial resentment - the belief of some whites that blacks complain too much, or don’t try hard enough - attitudes they take into the voting booth. Undoubtedly race matters. When Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley ran for governor in 1982, it appeared he was certain to become California’s first black chief executive when the last polls had him up 10 points. Yet, he lost. Joe Trippi says, “It was probably the most crushing defeat I’ve been part of.” “It gave us the term “the Bradley Effect” - the assumption that when it comes to black candidates, polls or rather people who talk to pollsters lie, fearing they’ll be seen as bigots.
One would ask what about Obama? I hope it will not happen this time.Trippi thinks the country has come a long way and race may not be an issue but he warns that the fire is not gone out yet and others believe that the Bradley effect is an artifact of the 80s and does not apply to today’s society. Others comment about high-ranking blacks in the Bush White House have gotten Americans used to blacks in positions of authority. Even pop culture has helped Americans entertain the idea of a black commander-in-chief. Strong, successful black presidents in movies like Morgan Freeman in “Deep Impact” and TV shows like Dennis Haysbert in “24″ may have set the stage.
UCLA sociology professor Darnell Hunt says, “The media are pretty good at normalizing things, and if people see it enough in the media, suddenly it seems like something that, yeah, this can happen.” But this is the real world, with the real world issues: two foreign wars, and an economy in deep crisis. America had the first African American Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Secretary of State, General Colin Luther Powell (picture), but never had black Commander in Chief or President before.
A long time Republican Colin Powell crossed his party lines to join Democrats and endorse Barack Obama for president. He specifically cites, “And I come to the conclusion that because of his ability to inspire, because of the inclusive nature of his campaign, because he is reaching out all across America, because of who he is and his rhetorical abilities – and we have to take that into account – as well as his substance. He has both style and substance. He has met the standard of being a successful president, being an exceptional president. I think he is a transformational figure. He is a new generation coming in to the world, on to the world stage, on to the American stage. And for that reason, I’ll be voting for Senator Barack Obama”. Wow! That says it all. That is a huge order from the General!
Perhaps the long awaited ‘Roots’, now, have grown and fully ripe and I hope that America will get over the past injustices and choose Senator Barack Obama who is the best candidate to transform the predicament of American Values with a renewed Spirit. Simeneh
In the presidential matchup debate at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, it was one of Barack Obama’s possibly best performance of the campaign and I thought it had a lot to do with the format. All along we’ve heard how John McCain excels in town hall settings. But tonight he seemed old, cranky, and downright tired as he trooped around the stage. His movements were stiff and jerky–surely a product of his brutal treatment in Vietnam, but nonetheless pitiless to watch. My hunch is that McCain has benefited from having the stage to himself in past town hall meetings. Sharing the spotlight with a much younger, more vigorous and agile Obama really highlighted his physical liabilities in a way that hadn’t previously been apparent. By contrast, Obama really benefited from his years as a law professor. He was fluent and very much at ease walking and talking at the same time. He had a professor’s ability for making eye contact and maintaining it while he walked a questioner through a multi-step response. And his answers were much more concrete and intuitive than I’d ever heard them. On the question of health care, for example, Obama was effective at defusing McCain’s cheap anti-government rhetoric with tangible evidence at every step of the way. He explained why healthcare should be a right by describing his mother’s fight with insurers during the final months of her life. He explained that the reason he mandates coverage for children is that they’re “relatively cheap to insure and we don’t want them going to the emergency room for treatable illnesses like asthma.” And he exposed the shallowness of arguments about government intrusion by pointing out that, without regulators, insurers don’t always deliver on what you pay them for. The answer was so clear that it was professorial in the best sense. The best example of Obama’s explanation came when the debate turned to Pakistan. The questioner seemed hostile to Obama’s approach: “Should the United States respect Pakistani sovereignty and not pursue al Qaeda terrorists who maintain bases there, or should we ignore their borders and pursue our enemies like we did in Cambodia during the Vietnam War?” In response to the question, Obama did a number of important things. First, he provided some critical background: We wouldn’t even be having this discussion had Bush destroyed al Qaeda before invading Iraq. Instead, Bush allowed al Qaeda to escape to Pakistan, from which they’re sniping at our troops and destabilizing the region. Next, Obama explained that we’d first exhaust other options–giving the Pakistanis an incentive to do the job themselves–before launching a strike. Only at that point, he said, and only “if we have Osama bin Laden in our sights and the Pakistani government is unable or unwilling to take them out,” would he give the go-ahead. It was about as far from gratuitously belligerent as you could get–and all thanks to Obama’s soothing, professorial wrap up.
John McCain’s crankiness starting to show similarities with Australia’s war hero and a dogmatic racial creepy-crawly, Bruce Ruxtorn, whom I met once in the ABC TV studio full of audience discussing immigration issues. For that matter, both men resemble in the way they act, interact and spit bad languages of racial intolerance. For his part, McCain mangled his explanations and stepped on his own canned punchlines. His diction was bizarrely geriatrician at times, culminating with his inexplicable reference to Obama as “that one”–language befitting a grandchild who refuses to eat his broccoli. McCain criticized his Democratic rival for supporting the 2007 Bush-Cheney energy bill, "It wa s an energy bill on the floor of the Senate, loaded down with goodies, billions for oil companies, and it was sponsored by Bush and Cheney. ... You know who voted for it? You might never know. That one," he said, gesturing toward Obama. "You know who voted against it? Me."
To McCain’s demise, Obama recently said, "I can take four more weeks of John McCain's attacks, but America can't take four more years of John McCain's Bush policies."
Though McCain has traditionally been deft at larding his responses with anecdotes, tonight was mostly argument by cranky assertion. I counted over a dozen times when McCain began a sentence or clause with the phrase “I know”–as in “I know how to get America working again” and “I know how to fix this economy.” Great, but a lot of voters don’t know and believe you. How about an example or two next time? McCain faced a tough choice coming into this debate. He looked as if he wishes he wasn’t there. Tonight McCain managed to pull off an impressive achievement. He managed to do nothing particularly dramatic, yet still give the impression that he’s old and unsteady. I see very little for him to build on after tonight’s debate. Sorry, the game is over for John McCain.
Vice-presidential nominee Alaskan Governor and former beauty contestant Sarah Palin started her debate winking at the audience and her opponent Democratic vice-presidential nominee Senator Joseph Biden. Her debate performance was pretty much what expected of her, rambling everywhere by avoiding to answer the real question when confronted by the moderator. She has been ridiculed so many times on recent interview stumbles, and some conservatives are questioning McCain’s wisdom in selecting her. He only chose her to play the old game of politics on Senator Obama but didn’t know if his vice-nominee is qualified to do the task of executing responsibilities without repeating the same mistakes like that of George Bush’s. She is at risk of becoming presidential Barbie doll. She reminds me of Pauline Hanson of Australia. Check it out http://simenehmakonnen.blogspot.com/2008/09/obama-is-creating-good-karma.htmlml Being quick study, has become the problem as the McCain campaign has overloaded her with more information she can muster. The US economic crisis has skidded and knocked the wind out of both candidates McCain and Palin and they are struggling to regain grip.
Don’t be hoodwinked by McCain and Palin’s reckless last minute gasping campaign of condescending, blaming, smear tactics and prepared to do anything against formidable opponents, Obama and Biden, and obviously racing against time and the change they have never experienced before.
On the contrary, Senator Biden gave strong and detailed analysis of every question he’s been asked during the debate. Furthermore, Governor Palin while making accusations on Senator Obama has never ever called him Senator, not even once. How arrogant is that? That’s why she acts, talks, looks, stumbles and so on like Australian Pauline Hanson. Sarah Palin was not chosen for her foreign policy expertise or intellectual might either, no amount of coaching can reverse that. Therefore, she returned to the very traits that made her an attractive, winker political upstart and held her own against a much more experienced, opponent, candidate, Senator Biden. In the process she may have helped shore up some nervous voters who initially warmed to her winking smile but were in danger of skidding away. Sarah can wink, charm and smile but she can’t fool the whole America like George Bush did with his wicked smile.
BUSH or McCAIN not AcGAIN! John McCain wants to cut and run from the presidential campaign but keep our troops in Iraq indefinitely. John McCain didn't know the nation was in a financial crisis and didn't know his campaign manager was defrauding Freddie Mac. John McCain wasn't aware that his campaign aide was on the bankroll of the Georgian president. John McCain didn't know Sarah Palin was for all the earmarks he was against. And he didn't know she could stare into Putin's eyes from her balcony. John McCain didn't know he could still participate in the presidential debate without having to be on the stage in the same city. John McCain also didn't know how to set up an e-mail account. John McCain didn't know that his attempt to sabotage his campaign by pulling a Palin on his crew, and the White House-led GOP at the last minute without notice, wouldn't get him out of the campaign that easy. John McCain also didn't know that his latest cowardly efforts to duck and dodge not only jeopardize his "war hero" status, but also lends credence to the notion that he is running from questions about his complicit involvement with Freddie Mac and dodging efforts to prevent any investigative media from asking Sarah Palin legitimate questions that conveniently Fox News forgot to ask (which would be every question in a real reporter's notebook).
John McCain realizes that he has made one of his greatest mistakes in his life by choosing Sarah Palin as his running mate and, unfortunately, has no option left but stay in a fight or flight situation.
Sarah Palin doesn’t think of what the future holds or conveys about the consequences of her actions; messages, remarks, accusations, vague policies and gaffes.
Right now, John McCain and Sarah Palin are trailing because the American people finally realized their rhetoric and the same old gaffes and cheap political tactics that put John McCain in the White House for 26 years in the first place.
For McCain and Palin this new wave of technological political change is in their way and find it hard to swallow, especially for John McCain as in the past who used to winning by bickering and throwing stones at his opponent without clarifying his policies to the American people.
Senator Barack Obama, up until now, has never pointed a finger at McCain and Palin to expose McCain’s past economic misjudgement that put millions of Americans at risk by losing their jobs and homes. Despite all the personal attacks made about him he instead chose to continue talking to the American people about the issues that matter the most. America! You accepted all the advancements in technological changes, why not political changes?
FAWLTY TOWER IN WASHINGTON Britain’s Ambassador to Washington recently paradoxically admired Barack Obama saying, he is “elegant”, “mesmerizing”, “highly intelligent”, “star quality” and “tough & competitive”.
How in the world then a person of all these virtues will “have less of a track record than any recent president”? This is what the Ambassador wrote back to his British Prime Minister Gordon Brown detailing his inappropriate espionage style letter. It seems that signs of discontent starting to emerge as Obama’s resilience is shinning through McCain’s neighborhood. I think all diplomats should learn from Obama’s intelligent and exuberant approaches to interpersonal relations. Time for change!
I thought McCain was very arrogant and abusive by playing cheap lying tactics about Obama's credibility and abusing him by saying "he doesn't understand" and "he doesn't know" plus he kept repeating the same thing over and over again by going over his time limit and Jim Lehrer, the moderator, was allowing him for that. Obama was the clear winner despite the fact that Lehrer let McCain have the last word most of the time. Was that fair? Think about that, seriously. What about the debate rules? I hope the American people saw McCain for what he truly is - an old dinosaur with old ideas and abusive debater!!!
He’s completely out of touch. He’s somebody who’s giving tax cuts to the wealthy when it’s the middle class and low income earners who needs tax cuts. Just last week he thought the fundamentals of the economy were strong. So, he doesn’t get it. That’s what he has demonstrated. He’s out of touch. And when you try to use sort of insulting language as he did tonight it doesn’t really appeal to voters who are looking for a positive solution to their own lives and the struggles that they’re going through. McCain's language is "insulting" when he says that Obama “doesn't understand” in all his speech.
Obama conducted himself with dignity and respect, and Americans appreciate that kind of concerned forthrightness. You can see from the picture how warm and accepting, welcoming and sincere Obama is. That just qualifies Obama’s comment about McCain when he said respectfully, "It's not because John McCain doesn't care, it's because John McCain doesn't get it."
On the contrary, Obama was respecting him by agreeing with what McCain was saying. So, be warned, McCain was playing cheap and old abusive tricks trying to score points by criticizing his rival rather than getting to the specifics and what he can do as a President. I was impressed with Obama. He presented a platform of change, discussed the issues well and showed a plan. McCain certainly did not show any real platform of change and just profiled his experience of 26 years in office which led us to no where but economic disaster and an unqualified war that wasted American lives.
Come on America! This is wake-up call! McCain’s smart tactics to pick a woman of no substance and credentials is only to cover his weakness and downfall to gain vote against his rival for not picking a woman as his running mate. It is a vote getter trick!( http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,,24271327-5012748,00.html )
A RAY OF HOPE
McCain is a four-term Arizona senator, where has he been? What has he done all those years? Just support the Bills and changes that are presented by the Bush administration?
All the economic fall out now is a perfect example for the McCain’s term sluggish administration.
On the other hand, Obama is only a first-term senator from Illinois and records show that he has tremendously contributed so much to his Democratic party and in doing so he excelled in his KPI’s to run for the highest office in the land. Obama lamented Republican policies over eight years that he said "encouraged outsized bonuses to CEOs while ignoring middle-class Americans" and said: "Instead of prosperity trickling down, the pain has trickled up — from the struggles of hardworking Americans on Main Street to the largest firms of Wall Street."
Obama generally supports stronger consumer protections, better regulatory oversight and more government intervention, while McCain broadly prefers a market system of less federal involvement and red tape.
Obama seeks to cut into inequality between rich and poor by raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans and give breaks to the middle class and lower-income people.
Obama chastised McCain by saying: "It's not that I think John McCain doesn't care what's going on in the lives of most Americans. I just think he doesn't know. He doesn't get what's happening between the mountains in Sedona where he lives and the corridors of power where he works." That’s just a legitimate and honest assessment of McCain’s, three degrees of disaster, pure ignorance, poor judgement and pathetic economic mismanagement.
MCCAIN’S RANK OF TREACHERY
John McCain owns more houses than he can count and his wife wears $300,000 earrings. McCain divorced his first wife (after he cheated on her) to marry Cindy who was wealthy. Prior to that he was pretty much a loser. He eventually graduated, despite some difficulties near the bottom of his class and was a cocky, but bad, bad pilot in the Vietnam war leading to his plane getting shot down and him getting captured. This was the fifth plane McCain had lost in his short military career (and he only saw 20 hours of combat during the Vietnam war).
Further, McCain actually cooperated with the Vietnamese and provided them with information in exchange for medical care (not saying I blame him given his life was at stake, but merely stating what happened).
It makes you wonder whether John McCain is a real life instance of the Manchurian Candidate.
Barack Obama, on the other hand, was raised by a single white mom who needed food stamps. He worked hard, graduated from one of the highest Universities in the land, Harvard, and overcame tremendous odds and hardles to get where he is today. Phew! These are not opinions but prooven facts. To even think that he is an elitist is the biggest farce in the world.
A ray of sunshine is gradually beaming rainbows of hope for America and the rest of the world because OBAMA IS CREATING GOOD KARMA. Obama will bring audacity of hope to all. Read more very interesting comment on (www.abugidainfo.com/?p=6027 ).
BOOK OF LIES AND DECEIT
Jerome Corsi just published a new book full of lies and deceit. Sounds like the writers from The National Enquirer. This is nothing but another stint & sensational writing full of lies to arouse people more interested to read expecting what will happen next on fictional stories that never existed and to anyone’s demise nothing will happen at all. People are so attracted to bewildering stories they will continue to buy such stirring and dramatized stories of newspapers, magazines, and books so forth.
Obviously, this writer chose a good time and opportunity to make money regardless of his strong support for both parties and making evil effort to undermine Obama’s credibility. No fat chance, Pal. You can make the money but you can’t make the man the way you think.
Faithfully
I have embraced all manners of esoteric arts, natural therapies, traditional forms of medicines, mind & body works, only to come up with nature's simplest of all remedies: rest & sleep, it has taken me all my life time to make peace with the enlightenment of rest & good sleep. I was the change that I was looking for in the wrong places at the wrong time.
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