Senator Barack Obama...Reasons to Support

[swreview]

Go to http://www.barackobama.org and on the left side of the top links on his home page, click on LEARN, then look down the menu that comes into view and click on KNOW the FACTS.

You will find the latest controversial comments and both sides of the issue so you can analyze it more efficiently.

Below: "Why I Support Barack Obama" which explains some of the reasons I know Senator Barack Obama will make a good President of the United States of America.

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

Why I support Barack Obama:

"Senator Barack Obama is able to see the best from both sides of issues and explain the pros and cons to us. He is gifted in analysis and able to clearly define the nature of the problem as well as options for resolution. His candor, his self-control and grace under pressure, his ability to listen, his quiet but commanding presence that is respected by all of the other presidential candidates--these are a few of his character qualities that indicate he is the "man of the hour" for our next President of the United States of America.

We will be enduring tough times as a nation and the situation requires a President with considerable diplomatic experience in his manner of speech with people from all walks of life as well as a practical understanding of the daily struggles and joys in America at all economic levels.

I have questions, like the effect of his capital gains' tax plan that was discussed on George Stephanopolous' "Round Table" on 4-20-08 but I am hoping that Senator Obama is open to tweaking any of his plans if additional facts or perspectives are laid on the table. He seems to be a man who would be open to changing his view in the face of evidence. Situations turn upside down overnight in the world now, so we need a president who can gather all of the facts, assess them wisely, then reassess them later and make modifications if a Plan B, C or D becomes necessary.

I respect Senator Obama's ability to address things directly, thoughtfully and tactfully with no arrogance, no drama, no ego, no haughtiness, no ignorance, no lying and with no dysfunctional pride nor conceitedness that is blind to the truth. He rises above everyone in heated discussions which is evidence of superb training and discipline in his life. He is a peacemaker in his own right...able to get everyone to focus on the bottom line and build from there. He is going to make a superb president who will go the extra mile to protect us, to help us in rescue and recovery. He will have to make choices between the "lesser of two evils" in many situations...anyone who wants to understand that bigger picture should research the statistics on http://www.economyincrisis.org

Remember...he will not be able to tell us everything about what is happening. National security and our very lives will be at stake. Encourage him to stand strong against wrong compromises and provide the facts quickly to him--he will be pressured unlike any other president in history.

[SAVE US from]

Fighter hoping for an RFK cumuppance for our
saviour to be. One who looks more like PRs,
who appear to be more representative of 85% of the world's people, they being non-white.

Hillary looks Puerto Rican and they readily identifies with her $109,000,000 bank book.
She's just one of 'em.

Pander - food for the gullible.

McSame says he's gonna talk to Chinese and Russian
what a novel idea. Trying desperatley to be Obama.
His handler Lieberman can't bear the thought of
a US President who looks so much like an enemy
who hates occupiers of their lands. Israel a
planted statelet in ME with 150 nukes, Arab and Persian countries with zero (0) nukes. What an imbalance.

++++++++++

Have you heard about the fighter first lady?
Who's lived here and there across the ol USA.
Have you heard about her Barak Obama fight?
Oh, Lord what a hell of a fight.
You can take all of the heavyweights you’ve got.
We’ve got a lass that can beat the whole lot.
She used to ring bells in the Methodist belfry,
Now she's gonna fight for WH slot.

Chorus
She's my sister Hill'ry,
WHAT'S SHE GOT?
She's got a row of forty medals on her chest,
BIG CHEST!
Don't push,don't shove,
Plenty of room for you and me.
She' got an arm like a leg
BIG LEG!
And a punch that would sink a battleship,
BIG SHIP!
Takes all the army and the navy
to put the wind up.
Hill'ry!

She thought she’d take a trip to Bosniae.
She thought that she’d go by sea.
She dove off the harbor in New York,
And swam like a great big shark.
She saw the Lusitania in distress.
She put the Lusitania on her chest.
She drank all of the water in the sea,
And she walked all the way to Italy.
Cho
She thought she'd take a trip to old Japan.
They turned out a big brass band.
You can take all of the instruments you’ve got,
We got a lass that can play the whole lot.
And the old church bells will ring (Hells bells!)
The old church choir will sing (Hells fire!)
They all turned out to say farewell to our big sis Hill'ry
Cho
RULES BE DAMN - WERE SHE TO GET KO'D - HER SIS's
GONNA GO WITH MCSAME. LOYAL DEMS THEY BE LIKE that QUISLING LIEBERMAN.

[ClintonNAFTA]

The Clintons really hurt the United States with their NAFTA unfair trade agreemment and thatPermanent MOST FAVORED NATION STATUS that Bill Clinton gave to Communist China- which was done for personal and selfish reasons expecting to do private international trade business on their own. The Clintons' NAFTA has OUT-sourced millions of JOBS from America costing Average Americans a terrible economic hit. Anr the TRILLIONS of dollars in debt owed to China started with the Clintons.The Iraq Oil War that Hillary Clinton VOTED for only made our TRADE deficit to China even Higher. And talk about Hillary Clinton LACKING JUDGMENT--- How is it that with her HUSBAND, the former President being at her disposal that their two heads did not figure out that the Iraq War was for oil not Weapons of mass destruction and not a Saddam Al- Qaeda connection. Maybe they did know and voted us into War for contractors, oil companies and other corporate interests that would inevitably benefit from the Iraq War. The Clintons need to never return to the White House.

[roofingbird]

ClintonNAFTA wrote:

The Clintons really hurt the United States with their NAFTA unfair trade agreemment and thatPermanent MOST FAVORED NATION STATUS that Bill Clinton gave to Communist China- which was done for personal and selfish reasons expecting to do private international trade business on their own. The Clintons' NAFTA has OUT-sourced millions of JOBS from America costing Average Americans a terrible economic hit. Anr the TRILLIONS of dollars in debt owed to China started with the Clintons.The Iraq Oil War that Hillary Clinton VOTED for only made our TRADE deficit to China even Higher. And talk about Hillary Clinton LACKING JUDGMENT--- How is it that with her HUSBAND, the former President being at her disposal that their two heads did not figure out that the Iraq War was for oil not Weapons of mass destruction and not a Saddam Al- Qaeda connection. Maybe they did know and voted us into War for contractors, oil companies and other corporate interests that would inevitably benefit from the Iraq War. The Clintons need to never return to the White House.

Senator Obama’s record on NAFTA appears under-discussed. See the Ohio debate part one... Clinton:

[MR. RUSSERT: I want to ask you both about NAFTA because the record, I think, is clear. And I want to -- Senator Clinton. Senator Obama said that you did say in 2004 that on balance NAFTA has been good for New York and America. You did say that. When President Clinton signed this bill -- and this was after he negotiated two new side agreements, for labor and environment -- President Clinton said it would be a force for economic growth and social progress. You said in '96 it was proving its worth as free and fair trade. You said that -- in 2000 -- it was a good idea that took political courage. So your record is pretty clear.

Based on that, and which you're now expressing your discomfort with it, in the debate that Al Gore had with Ross Perot, Al Gore said the following: "If you don't like NAFTA and what it's done, we can get out of it in six months.

The president can say to Canada and Mexico, we are out. This has not been a good agreement." Will U.S. president say we are out of NAFTA in six months?

SEN. CLINTON: I have said that I will renegotiate NAFTA, so obviously, you'd have to say to Canada and Mexico that that's exactly what we're going to do. But you know, in fairness --

MR. RUSSERT: Just because -- maybe Clinton --

SEN. CLINTON: Yes, I am serious.

MR. RUSSERT: You will get out. You will notify Mexico and Canada, NAFTA is gone in six months.

SEN. CLINTON: No, I will say we will opt out of NAFTA unless we renegotiate it, and we renegotiate on terms that are favorable to all of America.]

Ohio Democrat debate text including discussion on NAFTA:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/26/us/politics...

[roofingbird]

Part 2 of the the Ohio debate including NAFTA-Obama:

MR. RUSSERT: But let me button this up. Absent the change that you're suggesting, you are willing to opt out of NAFTA in six months?
SEN. CLINTON: I'm confident that as president, when I say we will opt out unless we renegotiate, we will be able to renegotiate.

MR. RUSSERT: Senator Obama, you did in 2004 talk to farmers and suggest that NAFTA had been helpful. The Associated Press today ran a story about NAFTA, saying that you have been consistently ambivalent towards the issue. Simple question: Will you, as president, say to Canada and Mexico, "This has not worked for us; we are out"?

SEN. OBAMA: I will make sure that we renegotiate, in the same way that Senator Clinton talked about. And I think actually Senator Clinton's answer on this one is right. I think we should use the hammer of a potential opt-out as leverage to ensure that we actually get labor and environmental standards that are enforced. And that is not what has been happening so far.

That is something that I have been consistent about. I have to say, Tim, with respect to my position on this, when I ran for the United States Senate, the Chicago Tribune, which was adamantly pro-NAFTA, noted that, in their endorsement of me, they were endorsing me despite my strong opposition to NAFTA.

And that conversation that I had with the Farm Bureau, I was not ambivalent at all. What I said was that NAFTA and other trade deals can be beneficial to the United States because I believe every U.S. worker is as productive as any worker around the world, and we can compete with anybody. And we can't shy away from globalization. We can't draw a moat around us. But what I did say, in that same quote, if you look at it, was that the problem is we've been negotiating just looking at corporate profits and what's good for multinationals, and we haven't been looking at what's good for communities here in Ohio, in my home state of Illinois, and across the country.

And as president, what I want to be is an advocate on behalf of workers. Look, you know, when I go to these plants, I meet people who are proud of their jobs. They are proud of the products that they've created. They have built brands and profits for their companies. And when they see jobs shipped overseas and suddenly they are left not just without a job, but without health care, without a pension, and are having to look for seven-buck-an-hour jobs at the local fast-food joint, that is devastating on them, but it's also devastating on the community. That's not the way that we're going to prosper as we move forward.

Ohio Democrat debate text including discussion on NAFTA:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/26/us/politics...

How do you evaluate the Differences between Clinton and Obama?

[roofingbird]

Washington Post

Transcript
Clinton Remarks on Trade From Pittsburgh
Monday, April 14, 2008; 1:24 PM

Excerpt, see full remarks in link:

[QUESTION: My name's Glenn Dunaway (ph). I'm president of United Steelworkers Local 735 out of (inaudible) Ohio.

In 1992, Bill Clinton told us that he would sign -- he would not sign NAFTA unless it was amended to include worker and environmental rights. It wasn't. Not only did he sign it, but he fought for it.

Already, the media is saying that your tough talk on trade is just rhetoric. How can you assure us that we won't be tricked again?

(APPLAUSE) CLINTON: Well, you know, as smart as my husband is, he does make mistakes. And...

(LAUGHTER)

(APPLAUSE)

And I think that we've now had, you know, 15 years of experience with NAFTA. And the evidence is clear that we have to change the basic provisions of NAFTA.

CLINTON: And I am committed and I'm the only candidate with a very specific plan of how I will fix NAFTA because I'm more interested in fixing the problem.

And what I will do is to tell our neighbors, Canada and Mexico, that we have to renegotiate NAFTA or we will pull out of NAFTA. And I am on record of having said that because...

(APPLAUSE)

... I believe that we will have a process that leads to renegotiation.

And here's what I want to do: We will put the labor and environmental standards in the core agreement. They weren't a side agreement. And unfortunately, that side agreement was viewed as not as instrumental or enforceable as it needed to be so we've got to get it into the core agreement.

I will end the provision in NAFTA which I have criticized where foreign companies get to come and sue us over our labor, environmental and health and safety rules.

(APPLAUSE)

I am not going to let that continue.

(APPLAUSE)

We do a much better job in protecting our environment. We have spent a 100 years coming up with health safety rules. And we also have strong labor protections. So from my perspective, I'm not going to let some foreign company looking for advantage do it by trying to tear our structure of support for workers apart and for our environment. So I'm going after that.

I'm also going to do more on enforcement.

You know, it's not only manufacturing that I worry about. And I told some of you this story. We share a border between New York and Canada. And it's the longest peaceful border in the world, and that's wonderful. But I have to say that a lot of my constituents have a difficult time getting their products into Canada. You know, I have dairy farmers and apple farmers and small businesses who can't get across the border. So I commissioned a study, as a senator, to try to figure out what was going on. And the evidence was pretty clear that there are so many layers of obstacles and barriers that are not really visible that prevent us from getting our goods into Canada. And I'm going to end that.

Because I complained to the U.S. trade representative. Told him what I had found: that, you know, my folks couldn't get apples, or dairy products across the border while people coming from Canada sure can get into our market. That was like talking to a wall.

So we're going to have a trade policy, backed up by strong trade enforcement, carried out by people who want to make sure our trade agreements are pro-American -- pro-American worker trade agreements. And we're going to start with renegotiating NAFTA.]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/...

[swreview]

ClintonNAFTA wrote:

The Clintons really hurt the United States with their NAFTA unfair trade agreemment and thatPermanent MOST FAVORED NATION STATUS that Bill Clinton gave to Communist China- which was done for personal and selfish reasons expecting to do private international trade business on their own. The Clintons' NAFTA has OUT-sourced millions of JOBS from America costing Average Americans a terrible economic hit. Anr the TRILLIONS of dollars in debt owed to China started with the Clintons.The Iraq Oil War that Hillary Clinton VOTED for only made our TRADE deficit to China even Higher. And talk about Hillary Clinton LACKING JUDGMENT--- How is it that with her HUSBAND, the former President being at her disposal that their two heads did not figure out that the Iraq War was for oil not Weapons of mass destruction and not a Saddam Al- Qaeda connection. Maybe they did know and voted us into War for contractors, oil companies and other corporate interests that would inevitably benefit from the Iraq War. The Clintons need to never return to the White House.

Thanks for the explanation...it explains http://www.economyincrisis.org
Can you give me the history of NAFTA...I thought it began in the 1980s. Was that time the start of the "philosophy"?