One Million Strong for Barack

Facebook, a social utility that connects people with friends and others who work, study and live around them, has a group, One Million Strong for Barack, which has the simple goal of getting one million strong in support of the democratic presidential candidate, Barack Obama. This group was created on January 16, 2007 by Farouk Olu Aregbe, from Washington, DC and alumni of North Dakota, and currently has 293,058 members. Aregbe set the goal of reaching 250,000 members by February 5th and that goal was reached on February 10th. All of Aregbe’s goals had been met on time previous to this latest goal. Aregbe wants to reach the goal of one million members by May 10th and he is well on his way to reaching it. On the group website, a link has been set up so that any member can make a personal donation directly to Barack Obama. Members are encouraged to make a small donation of $10 and the group has contributed $8,345 from 273 members.

Information technology has been a very important park of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign so far. His campaign staff regularly uses BarackObama.com to post Youtube videos and pictures on Flickr. Obama also has his own Facebook profile. BarackObama.com is regularly updated with news articles and blog entries. Obama’s website is a place where people all around the country and the world can come together and support the presidential candidate. The site is helpful because it is regularly updated and the site is easy to navigate. The use of information technology will play a very important role in the next presidential election and Obama’s website is top of the line.

Whether you join or create your own Facebook group, check out your candidate’s website or write your own blog, you should find a way to support your favorite candidate and start making changes in our government. No matter who the candidate is, information technology will play a huge part in their campaign.

Slash and Burn Politics

Today, Hollywood elites such as George Clooney, Eddie Murphy and Barbra Streisand attended a fundraiser for Barack Obama which raised one million dollars for the Democratic Presidential candidate. Tickets to the fundraiser are $2,300, which is the maximum individual donation to a federal campaign. (Associated Press) This summed up a three day tour of California which started on Sunday in San Diego and went to San Francisco yesterday for a fundraiser for California Senator Barbara Boxer. The San Francisco Chronicle reported, “While the fundraiser was for Boxer, who will run for a fourth Senate term in 2010, Obama was the star of the show.” Obama entered the stage to a huge applause and chants saying “Mr. President!” while outside of the ballroom, hundreds of democrats who could not get tickets, waited to catch a glimpse of Obama.

In San Francisco, Obama hoped that our country was on the brink of a hopeful new era. He said “For all the slash-and-burn politics, underneath all that, there is something that binds us together as a people that is greater than anything that divides us. That thing called hope.” We have heard Obama mention slash and burn politics before, in Las Vegas, but what exactly is it? Slash and burn is a term used when part of a forest is cut and the vegetation is allowed to dry. It is then burned and the land is cultivated for a few years. It is then almost always abandoned because the land loses its fertility and is taken over by weeds. Is that what is happening in Washington? Obama believes so.

Americans expect to get something for nothing, which is why the deficit is exponentially growing, nothing is being done to stop global warming, and there are going to be serious issues with social security by the time I’m 65. Temporary fixes aren’t going to cut it. We need to control our spending and find alternatives to balancing the budget other than raising the deficit. We need to lower our dependence on oil. We need to fix social security so that our generation can actually receive it. If we don’t fix these problems, our country will be no different than a burnt forest.

Obama Goes to Vegas

Today, Senator Obama made a short stop in Las Vegas on his Presidential Campaign. He continues to present himself as an outsider in Washington. Obama has been careful not to lose his fresh face appeal. He said, “We’ve got to get beyond the small politics, the timid politics ... the slash and burn politics that have become the custom in Washington,” in front of a crowd of 3,500 at an amphitheater just outside Las Vegas, (Las Vegas Sun). He spoke broadly about making sure every child has an opportunity for a better future, calling for more funding for education. An overlying theme of his campaign is a promise for a better future and that we are all in this together. Obama is still in the process of winning the hearts and souls of Americans without fully revealing his agenda. Obama will answer the hard questions when they are asked.

Once again, Obama spoke about healthcare, an issue which lain dormant for many years and is back in the limelight for the 2008 election. Obama looks to reform the healthcare system by encouraging preventative care and reducing administrative costs by 10 percent. With the money saved, every American could have affordable healthcare.

Obama has been criticized for speaking too broad and for having no agenda. I believe Obama has an agenda and will release the details when the time is right. He only announced his candidacy eight days ago. He needs to win over the hearts and souls of Americans and get his name out there as a serious candidate. Unlike Hilary Clinton and John Edwards, Americans do not really know what Obama believes in. His short voting record only shows so much. There will be a time when Obama tells us how he plans to fix these issues. If he didn’t have solutions, he wouldn’t be in the race.

Obama's Travels

When Obama took office in January 2005, he hit the Senate Floor running. After two years in office, he has spent more of taxpayer’s money on travels than any other Senator who took office with him. Nearly $28,000 according to FOXnews.com. This does not mean that he has misused our tax dollars. John Kerry spent more than double what Obama spent in 2005 and 2006. This kind of spending is unusual for a junior Senator but not for a Presidential hopeful. Obama started building his Presidential resume as soon as he took office. According to FOXnews.com, Obama's staff issued a brief statement saying he's proud that his Russia trip led to an anti-proliferation law and that his Africa trip encouraged people to be tested for AIDS. In Russia, Obama toured a dilapidated factory where weapons, including a nuclear missile were being dismantled. In Africa, his wife publicly took an AIDS test to encourage Kenyans to do the same.

Obama needs to have these kinds of experiences to be a successful President. He should take advantage of taxpayer dollars to travel the world and gain these experiences. Not only is he able to see the impact he is able to make by influencing an anti-proliferation law or helping in the fight against AIDS, he’s networking with people around the world to be respected in a global community. It’s the same thing as a college student taking advantage of studying abroad and CO-OPing. It’s not required, but it helps in the long run.


Pravda a Russian news source ran the same story as Fox News.

Obama's Announcement for President

In the morning of February 10, 2007, Barack Obama announced his candidacy for President in front of crowds at the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois where the temperature was 12 degrees Fahrenheit. Thousands gathered with Obama ’08 pins on their coats and banners in their hands to witness to Obama’s first speech of his Presidential Campaign. To see the video, click here. As follows are a few highlights and my reactions to his speech.


Barack’s Journey Here

Barack Obama moved to Chicago over 20 years ago, just out of college, knew no one and was broke. He was accepted a job making $13,000 a year as a community organizer for a group of churches. At the time he did not know that this would be a start of a lifelong goal to play a part in building a better America. He held this job for three years, working in some of the poorest neighborhoods in Chicago, then went to law school. He then worked as a civil rights lawyer and taught constitutional law. After realizing that the fundamental liberties of American depended on active participation so he arrived in the capitol city, Springfield, Illinois to be a State Senator.


Time for Change

The American people have been lied to by the current administration. We have been told that the deficit doesn’t matter. The fact is that we are passing our dept on to our children for them to deal with. Eventually, the governments we borrow from are going to stop loaning us money. At that time, operations across the world, such as our presence in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe and Africa will have to stop. The scaling back of the War in Iraq must start now. This country has changed and it can be changed again. It is possible to scale back the war in Iraq and still protect our country from terrorists. We also need to lower our dependence on oil with the development of alternative fuel sources.


House Divided

The next President will lead a country that is divided on many issues. Granted, they are not as big as the problems that Abraham Lincoln faced, the country is not on the brink of being physically divided, this country will survive as a whole whether we stay in Iraq or if we leave. A decision must be made because country divided will fail and we need to be united under one leader. Lincoln had setbacks, doubts and defeats, but it is because of him that we are still one great nation. There will always be disagreements between parties and peoples but the time is now to bridge the gap between the rich and poor, republicans and democrats, war supporters and non-supporters. We need all the facts before we can decide as a nation if we support this war, facts that have not been provided by the current administration. We need next president to unite this country and that's why Barack Obama is in the race.

Affordable Health Care

Too many Americans can’t afford to see a doctor when they are sick. 45 million Americans live without heath insurance and therefore cannot afford to pay medical bills. Medical issues are the number one reason for personal bankruptcy. The issue of healthcare is not getting the attention it needs in Washington but it will soon be back in the front seat as an important issue in the 2008 presidential election. Clinton and Edwards both want universal health care, Obama wants affordable heath care. This is an issue that has become an economic disaster and there is no easy answer. Putting healthcare in the hands of the government could potentially put millions of Americans out of jobs. For the people who already have healthcare, it may not be worth the hassle of switching to a universal healthcare system. For people who can’t afford health care, it would be a blessing.

Affordable health care was an important issue for Barack Obama in the Illinois Senate and continues to be an important issue for him in the Senate. In a speech at the Pritzker School of Medicine Commencement, Obama said, “There isn't one person sitting here today who wants to turn a sick patient away because they can't pay.” Many Americans depend on Medicare and Medicaid, so Barack Obama has voted to restore funding for both of these programs. These programs are too often cut from the budget of governments who need to reduce spending. Also businesses too often cut providing health care to their employees when they need to cut spending. This takes its toll on many Americans who already struggle to pay their bills before their employer and the government starts messing with their health care.

The quality of health care also needs to be improved. The health care industry does not use enough information technology. In the 21st century, too much health care is provided with a pen and paper. Using information technology could reduce costs, reduce errors and save lives. If doctors and nurses could pull up a patient’s entire medical history at their bedside, it would save time and reduce errors. For people who move often or are vacationing far from home, this would be a great benefit for a doctor to be able to view their medical history without waiting for it to arrive in the mail. It would also allow doctors to make the right decision since they would know the patient’s entire medical past. This would be a great improvement since medical error kills over 98,000 people a year.

In Barack Obama’s speech at the Pritzker School of Medicine, he said, “We spend nearly one and a half trillion dollars a year on health care in America. But a quarter of that money - one out of every four dollars - is spent on non-medical costs; most of it bills and paperwork.” Most other industries have saved billions by doing their transactions online. At the bank, every transaction only costs a penny thanks to information technology. The banking industry has proved that this technology is safe and secure. There is talk about doing voting online. The internet has made banking easier for the banking, now it is time to use it to save thousands of lives in the medical industry.

Universal health care is not necessarily the answer. If the price of health care could be decreased, it would be a huge help for millions of Americans. We may not need a dramatic change like universal health care.

Does Obama Have What It Takes?

Obama would not be poised to announce his running for the highest office in the land tomorrow if he didn’t think so. Obama is still set to announce his candidacy in front of the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois. In fact, such large crowds are expected that some roads in downtown Springfield will be closed Saturday morning and some businesses are planning to open earlier than usual.

Some of you may be unimpressed by Obama’s lack of a political resume, but Obama sees it as one of his strengths. Obama took a different route to running for President. He got into national politics later in life and gained experience through work as a community organizer, civil rights attorney, constitutional law professor and state legislator for Illinois. Obama said in an interview with USA today that this kind of experience “provides me with insights into solving problems at the federal level and at the local level and at the neighborhood level.” He also said that experience "is what's needed right now.” Obama is turning his weaknesses into strengths and making people think about things a little bit differently. He is challenging the idea that you have to have an impressive political resume to be President. He definitely has an impressive resume but it is not political. This may be what America needs. In this time of war and uncertainty, we need new answers to old problems.