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Citigroup Scores. Robert Reich offers the most salient comments on doings in the Obama inner circle. SOURCE
Obama testing ways to use Internet to govern SOURCE
Much to his chagrin, “Plain old Barack” is gone. SOURCE
Stimulus Update SOURCE
Waxman To Chair Energy & Commerce Committees SOURCE
So What If Obama Hasn’t Been To Church SOURCE
Can Barack Stop The Panic? SOURCE
Our Job vis-a-vis The Obama Administration SOURCE
Will Arnold Schwarzenegger Be Barack’s Green Giant?
Barack is enough “left” for a centrist cabinet. Let’s get that out of the way. Half the stuff from the progressive front is about there not being enough of a leftward tilt in Barack’s cabinet selections. To which I say, Keep your eye on the main man.
This headline is frankly a shot in the dark. I have no news on this. It just occurred to me that a bipartisan stake in the heart of the Atwater wing of the GOP would be Arnold Schwarzenegger installed as energy czar, or environmental mogul or whatever we are going to call the cheerleader for Green in the new economy.
I will flesh out this speculation today with any relevant links. And of course my ace in the hole for this position is the son of RFK — remember we do need a Kennedy element in the cabinet — Robert Kennedy, Jr., who knows where the bodies are buried.
The Violence Meme
Once again, I am not going to begin by referencing this or that post, but suffice to say I did run into a dastardly mean post that everyone thought was right on. It was essentially one of those posts that calls us all idiots because we do not see that we are pawns in an imperial game, the only remedy for which is a countervailing power which can bring down the oppressors.
This is lingo that I imbibed in the 60s and 70s and it always sounds analytically smart and then fades into an allusion to violent response and then just sort of sits there, with a superior smirk toward all of us who ignorantly fail to cop to the analysis.
The solution to the problem of oligarchy and hidden elitist control and conspiratorial control lies not in fomenting a violent response — the folk who write this never suggest that in bald terms. It lies in exactly what Barack has laid out. Barack is the answer to the violence meme.
The countervailing power within a democracy must be ORGANIZED. One of the reasons the right wing bloggers go apoplectic when they read Saul Alinsky is that he pushed the envelope of action within a democratic context as far as it could go, and thereby demonstrated the idiocy of the ideologies that depend on playing the violence card.
Alinsky’s bite was less lethal than his bark. But his concept was reasonable. Raise consciousness among the folk getting the short end of the stick. And so forth.
We have spent the last eight years watching the means by which fascist tendencies can take root in this country.
We countered it a bit in 2004. We are countering it some right now. But make no mistake. This is precisely all about how to get around the violence meme.
That would include WAR. Is Barack a pacifist? NO. And neither is the ideologue whose post I am referencing in my mind. What Barack is is a Christian who hopes always to be able to modify the evil tendencies of the world by democratic means, by the creation of countervailing people power.
The constructive people are not those who sit around talking as though this effort was a chimera, a fantasy, a bourgeois illusion. They are the ones who know darned well that there is a system that favors the right and their compliant servants and that the latter group includes most Democratic office holders.
Barack has come to bring a little conscience to the house. I feel a little better now. Only to the extent that we can see past the violence meme can we begin to look for another way out. A new way out, as the song says.
The Answer Lies in Thought and Attention To Others Besides Ourselves SOURCE
I have been corresponding some with Wade Hudson about the future of the campaign and find his recent comment on a Mission Statement for the Obama Movement salient.
Our Mission
by Wade HudsonAs is the case with all organizations, the Obama-inspired movement will need a brief mission statement that can be used repeatedly and consistently to inform others about, and help keep members aware of, our purpose. When we evaluate our efforts, we’ll need to ask if are making progress toward achieving our mission. When we consider a new project, we’ll need to ask if it will help us achieve our mission.
When I googled “mission statements purpose,” the top result was “Frequently Asked Question: What’s in a mission statement?” from the Alliance for Nonprofit Management. They recommend that the mission statement include a statement of purpose, a description of your activities, and an affirmation of your basic values.
With this in mind, I looked for some language from Barack that might suffice as a mission statement.
On change.gov, under “Agenda,” the transition team has a long list of various goals, without any mission statement. But the top of their homepage declares, “Today we begin in earnest the work of making sure that the world we leave our children is just a little bit better than the one we inhabit today.” This statement may be a mission statement, but it is hardly inspiring. At least they could delete “just a little bit.” There’s nothing wrong with being practical and realistic, but this formulation strikes me as far too modest.
So I looked at the Democratic Party platform, which Barack had a major role in shaping. There I found, “We pledge a return to core moral principles like stewardship, service to others, personal responsibility, shared sacrifice and a fair shot for all (emphasis added). ” Not bad.
Barack’s announcement speech resonates with me more strongly, however. That speech includes the following … :
This campaign has to be about reclaiming the meaning of citizenship, restoring our sense of common purpose, and realizing that few obstacles can withstand the power of millions of voices calling for change.
That is why I’m in this race.
Not just to hold an office, but to gather with you to transform a nation.
I want to win that next battle — for justice and opportunity.
I want to win that next battle — for better schools, and better jobs, and better health care for all.
I want us to take up the unfinished business of perfecting our union, and building a better America.
Next I looked at his victory speech at the Convention, which includes:
And, above all, I will ask you to join in the work of remaking this nation.
This is our time, to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that, out of many, we are one….
So, drawing from the platform and the announcement, I suggest the following for our mission statement:
To transform the United States of America by:
* Reclaiming the meaning of citizenship.
* Mobilizing millions of voices to call for meaningful change.
* And restoring our sense of common purpose, based on these core moral principles:
o Stewardship.
o Service to others.
o Personal responsibility.
o Shared sacrifice.
o And a fair shot for all.Once a mission statement is adopted, the governing board should adopt subsidiary goals that would serve as means to achieving that mission. These goals should describe the nature of the organization that is envisioned and establish priorities.
Here is how I would put it (at least as a draft):
* Reclaiming our common responsibility as citizens.
* Mobilizing more and more grass roots voices to call for and help enact meaningful change.
* And instilling through example and education these core principles:
o Responsibility for the fate of our planet.
o An ethic of service to others.
o Bedrock personal responsibility.
o Sacrifice to achieve common goals.
o A level playing field based on transparent rules.
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