It’s great when someone you admire sees merit in you too. Today, I needed an injection of inspiration for finishing up the talk I’m giving next week on @jeffpulver‘s first #140Conf event on a tour bus, and got it when Reda StCyr “fanned” me on Huffington Post. StCyr is the woman who introduced me to the #p2 hashtag and through it provided me with a ready-made mechanism for interfacing on the web with the progressive community. Following links from Huffington’s fan notification took me to an important article about the poverty tour Dr. Cornel West & Tavis Smiley undertook this summer. In it, Smiley says that when the American public pressures Washington to take action on any issue, action gets taken. He gives some examples to prove his case and suggests that we be a lot more vocal about the poor needing help.
Obama’s Positive Accomplishments
I’m an openly enthusiastic fan of Obama. If you’re one of those people thinking that our president doesn’t deserve admiration, maybe an item from the list below will change your opinion. And if you’re a fellow Obama fan, enjoy the read! (I’ll be updating this list)
A Columbia University historian says this about the 111th Congress: “This is probably the most productive session of Congress since at least the ‘60s,” said Alan Brinkley, a historian at New York’s Columbia University. “It’s all the more impressive given how polarized the Congress has been.” “See for yourself, what is only a partial list of nearly 400 pieces of legislation that became law out of the 111th Congress” FB Page: “Things Obama has done…” Major Accomplishments of Barack Obama (a @StCyrlyMe2 find.) I love this format: the list is broken up into categories and every one can be expanded to give you a brief synopsis of the type of change Obama made happen. Click on the link (or several links) supplied for each entry to see the official public information page or news article where verification of the change can be viewed. What a fabulous way of presenting this information!Obamaachievements.org
“Don’t stop telling the truth”
Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Obama’s spiritual mentor, spoke about truth in his eulogy to judge R. Eugene Pincham this past Saturday. Beautiful words.
talking about Pincham’s integrity and honesty, Wright said, “You don’t change who you are because of where you are. You don’t stop telling the truth because it is not politically correct or it makes a racist uncomfortable . . .â€
Jump to full Sun Times article here.
Obama told the truth. Thanks, Hillary, for pointing that out to us.
On Twitter Dave Winer mentioned that Obama was calling Pennsylvanians’ – and the nation’s – attention to the fact that it’s true that rural American people are angry and bitter as a result of patiently waiting 25 years for politicians they elect to stop selling them out and help them get their lives and their jobs back. I guess Obama became one of my heroes twice this weekend, because he told a really uncomfortable truth about American politics and refused to back off it. Then he admitted he was wrong for having made a poor choice of words when he originally made the statement.