MOMocrats

Obama Works: Yes They Can

It's shocking the amount of money both Democratic candidates have raised since entering the race, whether big checks from wealthy benefactors, or from individuals who give in small $5 or $10 portions.

Since declaring her candidacy in 2007, Hillary Clinton has raised over $189 million through 3/31/08. Barack Obama has raised almost $235 million as of 3/31/08.

Given the nature of Obama's grassroots campaign, the progressive agenda that's united his supporters, and the increasingly pinched feeling we're all getting from our shrinking economy, it's no surprise that Obama supporters felt that they could use their energies and fundraising ability to contribute to the greater good RIGHT NOW.

On citizen journalists and the validity of accounts

The fireball that has erupted over a comment made at a fund raiser has knocked me off my feet. Over the past few days, what amounts to a standard, though creatively written account of another political event/fund raiser by a citizen journalist has become the fuel for an insane amount of intolerance described here that is almost as hateful as the thinking Barack Obama is being labeled for with his remarks on economically disadvantaged small-town people.

Do I need to get into all the reasons why one might expect a man who has campaigned for last 15 months or so all over the U.S. to know better than to phrase his remarks as such? Well, that is not where I'm headed, and quite frankly, I say this with all honesty, it often falls on deaf ears. However, I do intend to speak out for my citizen journalist colleague, Mayhill Fowler, with whom I, and a number of other of other contributors, have written on The Huffington Post's Off the Bus since June of last year.

Mayhill, as far as I have known, is unabashedly supportive of Obama. She also has very keen eyes and ears as her writing attests. She is very artful at describing the scene and the atmosphere as well as the reaction she experiences at campaign events. Over the last several months, I have read her many posts, of which a vast majority are favorable to Obama's campaign efforts. And I have followed with a slight sort of envy her outright dedication to covering the campaigns, which isn't always possible when you have young children under foot as I do.

Therefore, I am appalled at the amount of backlash she has received for having written her account of this expensive San Francisco fund raiser. I have attended numerous campaign events and throughout my years training as a journalist, I've covered events, people, issues I did and did not care about, much as a citizen journalist or any journalist for that matter would cover. Some were favorable to an idea or candidate I supported, some were critical. But, all were written from the truth as I believe Mayhill's account was written.

What I don't understand is how ordinary Americans can go on the defensive over the work of a citizen journalist, who is more like they are, than any big name paid reporter on any big news operation anywhere.

The value in the citizen journalist's account is that, unlike the paid reporter, they work for free. They are beholden to no one but themselves. And therefore, they are under no  obligation to write, cover or opine about subjects but from their own unique perspective.

We must remember the amount of varying viewpoints, accounts, thoughts and questions citizen journalists may pose is the very cornerstone to the idea a free press, most crucial in this age of corporate controlled big media.

Let us not become so embedded in our support of a candidate at the expense of free thought and dissent that we forget the underlying foundation that allows our candidate his or her platform in the first place.

-Christine Modern English

Obama's Remarks in SF on April 6: Transcript and Video

Since I was at the "Bittergate" fundraiser, I've been getting requests from reporters and bloggers asking for more video.  Unfortunately, I am having technical difficulty getting the video uploaded.  So, I'm transcribing here what I recorded, without commentary, pieced together with what the Huffington Post recorded. I hope this gives you a little more context for the remarks.

On the Economy:

OBAMA:  The period that has just come to an end, in which the wages and incomes of  average workers actually went down during economic expansion.  The average family had a $1000 less disposable income than when George Bush took office.  Part of this was globalization and trends that we can't lay at the feet of George Bush.   But we can blame this administration for  having made those trends worse, by giving those of us who were winners in the global economy  a tax break,  those of us who didn't need them and weren't even asking for them.  By failing to provide the training that workers needed as they watched their jobs get shipped overseas.  So people are having a tough time.  They're working harder and harder just to get by.  They are paying..they've never paid more for healthcare or gas at the pump . It's harder to save and harder to retire.

They were using home equity as a way of balancing their budgets, and when the housing market crashed because this administration provided no oversight and no regulation, because we haven't given enough concern given to whether or not the economy was working for those at the bottom and the middle...

:: :: ::

Man in the Crowd:  "I'm going to Pennsylvania this week to knock on doors for you.  What should I expect?  What should I know before I go there?"

OBAMA: It depends on the communities you're in. There are communities in Pennsylvania that actually probably have more in common with San Francisco than they do with the rest of Pennsylvania.  and Then, there are other communities that you know are you know culturally very different.  They have more in common with downstate Illinois than they do with Philadelphia, for example. It depends on where you are. 

But I think it's fair to say that the places where we will have to do the most work are the places where people are the most cynical about government. 

The people are misapprenhend...I think they're misunderstanding why the demographics in our, in this contest have broken out as they are. Because everybody just ascribes it to 'white working-class don't wanna work -- don't wanna vote for the black guy.' That's...there were intimations of that in an article in the Sunday New York Times today - kind of implies that it's sort of a race thing.

MOMocrats EXCLUSIVE Video: Barack Obama on Voter Skepticism in Midwest

I shot this video at the Obama fundraiser I attended in San Francisco last weekend.  Obviously, I'm not quitting my day job and Martin Scorcese has nothing to worry about.

Barack Obama in SF: A MOMocrat Eyewitness Account

I had the privilege of attending a fundraiser for Barack Obama in San Francisco on Sunday night, and came away with a renewed feeling of optimism and hope that this man could be our next President.  I was on the fence between Hillary and Barack for a long time, after the crushing blow of John Edwards' withdrawal from the race.  I now know that if Barack wins the nomination, he will go all the way.

My husband, our 7 year old son, and I drove up to a gorgeous home in San Francisco, and were met with a long line of well-dressed Northern Californians who were all excited to meet Obama.  We met our hosts at the door, a real estate developer and his lovely wife.  There were about 300 people in attendance, all crowded into the downstairs living room, dining room, and foyer, munching on appetizers and drinking wine. 

When Obama's motorcade (actually, two giant champagne-colored Suburbans) arrived, we all had to squeeze together and back up to make way for him to come through the crowd without freaking out the Secret Service.  My son, Alex, met a 9 year old girl at the event and the two of them weaseled their way up to the front to position themselves at the bottom of the staircase that Obama was use to make his entrance.  The Secret Service stoically stood by, eyeing the crowd and talking into their sleeves from time to time, and the crowd was calm, but excited.

Phil Donohue railing against corporate media's role in perpetuating war leads me to wonder about casket photos

Phil Donohue spoke to the press at last week's California Democratic Convention. He was there to promote his new documentary Body of War and also to give the keynote speech at the party convention dinner.

While we didn't see his keynote, Glennia commented that we got a taste of what his speech would have been like in the press room. The time that we spent with him listening to him speak and answer questions was nothing short of inspiring, and the two minute trailer he showed were enough to steel my resolve that those of us who opposed the war from the start need to do more to stop it.

Donohue made the movie in part, he explained, because he thinks he is someone who can help end the war. At first that statement seems a little self-inflating, but when you think about it, if high-profile, out-spoken, well-spoken, well-respected people don't speak out, then who?

And how do high-profile people speak out? They use their influence (and their money) to create and promote projects that they hope will have maximum impact.

California Democratic Convention: Who Wants to Be Governor of California?

On the first full day of the California Democratic Convention, I made my way into the big hall, bright green "INTERNET MEDIA" press pass dangling from my neck, wondering who was going to stop me and tell me that it was off-limits.  I thought as lowlife bloggers, we'd be shuttled into a windowless, cinderblock sideroom where we would watch the action from a portable Zenith black & white television set with rabbit ears.  Instead, I was told to go sit on a platform at the back of the room, with a great view of the stage, above he heads of the delegates in the crowd, right beside the TV news crews from CBS, CNN, and other major networks.  I found a seat in the back row of the blogger ghetto, and opened up my laptop.

As I was sitting there, about a half dozen or more people representing various causes and candidates came by to hand me literature, asking if I would write about their causes.  A guy with a firm handshake with the made-for-politics name of Joe Nation, candidate for State Senate, came by to talk to the bloggers. He said that he bought carbon off-sets to neutralize the entire Bay Area delegation's carbon footprint for the convention.  He seemed like a very nice guy, but one of the bloggers kicked him off the blogger platform and said that the area was for press only.

Go Read It: California Democratic Convention Thoughts and Photos

I posted my initial thoughts about the California Democratic Convention over on CityMama.  I've got some photos of people you might recognize there, too.

It was a tiring weekend and I've decided that I'm taking tomorrow as my Saturday. Hope the rest of the world doesn't mind.

MOMocrats Founding Editor Stefania Pomponi Butler blogs the irreverent and delicious CityMama, and walked around the convention with a bad head cold.

Elsewhere at the Convention

When Matt Lockshin of the California Democratic Party told the MOMocrats that we were welcome to bring our children with us while blogging our state convention, I had mixed feelings… because I knew that once I got here, I would spend more time being a mom than writing about politics.

I decided that the benefits of bringing my 12-year-old outweighed the hassles. She was already going to have memories of this historic Presidential election, and having the opportunity to witness a small part of history in the making will ensure that her memories will be special.

So yesterday morning, while a slate of rising stars and political legends like Jerry Brown, Gavin Newsom, , Judy Chu and Willie Brown were bringing the state Democrats to their feet, we were elsewhere: in the Marriott lobby, (where we had easy Internet access which allowed her to finish a school project) …

out in the hall (where the people hawking buttons and stickers were of a lot more interesting… prompting my kid to collect and wear as many as could fit on her jacket )...

and exploring the city of San Jose.

We got to see a part of the convention experience we never would have --- if we’d stayed in the ballroom, listening to speeches:

Houston Chronicle, TV got Texas caucus wrong

It may sell more news to focus on the negative and bad side, especially if a newspaper includes the word "chaos" in the headline, but it's also not really capturing the truth of the Texas Harris County Senate District 11 caucus. It's not reporting so much as it is sensationalizing.

The Houston Chronicle article---and the television news report I saw---focused on the long lines and traffic jams, long convention hours, and delegate frustration.

Perhaps that's all the outside observer saw---especially if looking for a sensational hook---but the convention was so much more than that.