Last post Thu, May 15 2008 10:36 AM by Liesl. 32 replies.
TriDog: It's all a moot point anyway. He's got no real world experience. Just remember, a few short years ago he was only a state senator. I just can't believe how he's manged to snow people into thinkng he can be President.
It's all a moot point anyway. He's got no real world experience. Just remember, a few short years ago he was only a state senator. I just can't believe how he's manged to snow people into thinkng he can be President.
Experience isn't always the thing needed to make a great leader or president. Lincoln?
"I believe everything out of the common. The only thing to distrust is the normal."John Buchan
Tim:You guys are quick, that link to Disaboom from Obama's site went up yesterday morning. Anyway, I thought I'd fill in a few details: 1st, an official press release will go out Monday morning, so stay tuned for that, 2nd, all the presidential candidates have been invited to participate on Disaboom and the other candidates may still respond. 3rd, if you happen to be an Obama fan check out his profile here, leave a comment there and add him as a friend. You can find his official profile on Disaboom at: http://www.disaboom.com/barackobama.
You guys are quick, that link to Disaboom from Obama's site went up yesterday morning.
Anyway, I thought I'd fill in a few details:
1st, an official press release will go out Monday morning, so stay tuned for that,
2nd, all the presidential candidates have been invited to participate on Disaboom and the other candidates may still respond.
3rd, if you happen to be an Obama fan check out his profile here, leave a comment there and add him as a friend. You can find his official profile on Disaboom at: http://www.disaboom.com/barackobama.
That's very exciting, Tim! I have been writing a monster post about Obama's plan and did mention the fact that Disaboom had been in talks with the other candidates but I had not seen them on the site. (Dr. House mentioned that in another thread)
TriDog:It's all a moot point anyway. He's got no real world experience. Just remember, a few short years ago he was only a state senator. I just can't believe how he's manged to snow people into thinkng he can be President.
Just like W did. *LOL* (Including me. I can't believe I voted for Bush!)
W was a governor of a large state and he's done a royal job.
I'm more than ready for a "fresh face" in the Oval Office. He can't do worse than W did. Hilary - I've already said elsewhere why I'm not fond of her. McCain is fine with keeping us in Iraq for decades if necessary, regardless the cost.
Sometimes it takes a "newbie" to come in with a fresh way of looking at things.
And yes, I'm a fiscal conservative. I was a registered Republican for nearly 20 years. But I'm tired of 8 years of what's been going on.
If a person is to focus on just one issue that Obama is to correct, I would still like to understand where the money is going to come from. As a nation we are in debt, the war whether you agreed or disagree with it's intent and or purpose is a hugh deficit expense. If is gone this instant we still owe the money, we still have a 1.4+ trillion dollar debt with China which does not float with the exchange rate. And all they ever talk about when it comes to budget is the short-term debt financing, hence giving us a balanced budget as with Clinton. I don't see any difference in any of these candididates because none of them is speaking to the issues of the size, cost, reach and power of government. If Ron Paul's candidacy spoke to people so well it was because he understood this one problem where none of the others do. I am not suggesting you vote for Ron Paul, however, look at some of his videos. His ideas are a example of what we should be looking at, not false promises backed by the same old rhetoric in the end we tried, we tried but we couldn't get it done. If you are going to look at experience or lack of it as a criteria in these guys, they simply have nothing to offer but the same old stuff. Ask the hard line questions and you get no specifics, that is a formula for another disaster in my opinion.
I have been reading a lot about the candidates but their websites do not assure me that changes will be made.
Yes, providing Americans with disabilities with educational opportunities should be first, but it should be done in all the United States including the territories of the United States. That will go also for the Second proposal to end discrimination and promote equal opportunity. This is mostly needed in the territory of Puerto Rico. Increase employment rate for workers with disabilities is still unheard on many of the territories of the United States. Ideas as to support indepent, community-based living for Americans with disabilities is something unheard in the Society of Puerto Rico.
Grand ideas and Utopian even but I have a couple of questions. Who's paying for all this? Foremost, we cannot leave out of the equation the territories of the United States.
In Puerto Rico the ADA Law is not enforce and more than 88,000 children with Special Needs of Education Services do not receive such services from the Puerto Rico Department of Education and sadly the US Department of Education has chosen to ignore the situation.
Where do you think the parents come when they find such reckless attitude? The United States. At least the US Agency should provide resources not a deaf ear.
How does one end discrimination? Yes, I agree we can't force people to think, but the negative attitude from the government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico should be point out. 88,000 children are suffering. What will become of their future? For all to be Institutionalize. Puerto Rico does not have the resources and let me point out, more than 28% of the population in Puerto Rico is compose of Persons with Disabilities.
How can we teach this government to understand that being a Person with Disabilities is also an open market? Not a disgrace. How can we increase employment? How? You can not force employers to hire the disabled if they aren't as qualified/skilled as an able-bodied person. Have they receive equal opportunities?
Obama does not have real world experience. A few years ago he was only a state senator. It is our responsibility to question him. How he's manged to snow people into thinking he can be President.
Eileen,
It;s hard for me to feel bad for the people of Puerto Rico. The people of Puerto Rico have opportunities to begin the process of statehood. It's voted down by the citizens of Puerto Rico. With statehood would come all the benefits such as enforcement of the ADA laws and educational advacncement. But along with those benefits comes responsibilities such as paying federal taxes. Citizens of Puerto Rico do not pay federal taxes. They can't have all the goodies and not contribute to the common good.
They may be paying taxes to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, but the rest of us are paying our states taxes and the federal taxes as well.
Just a little side note.
I made this a couple weeks ago.
Daisies
I love it, Daisies!
I am glad that the Disaboom community is talking about the election again. It seemed that it had fallen off the radar for some time. Did anyone also notice that during the North Carolina Obama victory speech there was a row of our people immediately behind him? That was the first time that I have seen that type of deliberate attention to the disability community.
Although I am a Republican, I am leaning toward voting for Senator Obama very strongly. Unless he does something as equally stupid as Hillary, he will get my vote! It is legitimate to ask how he will pay for things, but that should not be your only criteria. If a detailed spending plan was a prerequisite to electing any president, the office would have been always unoccupied. I think it is more important to know what the priorities will be and to have a sense of the character of the president. Obama has more than met that threshold. I agree that he will not be able to "end discrimination" but recognizing that it exists is important and sets the proper tone.
Republicans have a lot that they could craft into a comprehensive disability platform/agenda. The Independent Living philosophy is very close to the principle of personal responsibility. While some members of our community need more assistance to take responsibility for themselves, that would seem like a fertile ground for a Republican disability agenda. Yet, it has not happened. Within the last two months I wrote a letter to President George Bush (Senior) and asked him to comment on the significance of signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Unfortunately I have not received any response.
The Republicans need to realize that our vote is worth the effort. If the upcoming election is close, and the Democrats win, the political professionals will be analyzing the numbers furiously. If the exit polls see that Obama has overwhelmingly captured the disability vote, that should tell the Republican something. If McCain was doing half of what Obama has done, he probably would be getting my vote.
I like Hilliary...But Obama is clearly in front...He seems like a great person. I just don't want to see McCain....a copy of Bush and at at least another 4 years of war
Joe
wheels4law:Although I am a Republican, I am leaning toward voting for Senator Obama very strongly. Unless he does something as equally stupid as Hillary, he will get my vote! It is legitimate to ask how he will pay for things, but that should not be your only criteria. If a detailed spending plan was a prerequisite to electing any president, the office would have been always unoccupied. I think it is more important to know what the priorities will be and to have a sense of the character of the president. Obama has more than met that threshold. I agree that he will not be able to "end discrimination" but recognizing that it exists is important and sets the proper tone. T.K. Small, Brooklyn, New York
T.K. Small, Brooklyn, New York
I totally agree with you here, T.K. I analyzed (briefly) Obama's disability plan, but did so in terms of social responsibility. It may not be possible to pay for everything, but I do know his thinking on this issue and I know he has set the goal rather high, which is as it should be.
Have you heard the expression if we all go our own way, we will all go the same way?
Every group has it's own agenda, they all think it is the most important one that should be addressed and that is a divided nation with it's eyes off the ball.
If I were only basing my vote on the issue of disability, you would be correct in your statement. With Obama it is only one of a number of factors. The issue that I believe he can most effectively tackle is trying to bring people together after nearly 16 years of political squabbling. Trying to end the syndrome of "gotcha politics" really resonates with me. I think that more people agree on substantive issues, but people like the Clintons pander to the lowest common denominator. Hillary's recent flap about "hard-working white people" is a perfect example of what drives me crazy about them. It is not too soon for her to leave as far as I am concerned.
Admittedly Obama has the luxury of not having been in the Senate when the war was authorized, but it is important that he has been consistently in opposition to our involvement in the Iraq. Another thing that I have appreciated is that Obama didn't accept the ridiculous "gas tax holiday" idea promoted by Hillary and McCain. He did a good job of explaining the silliness of that position.
Perhaps I am unlike most Obama supporters in that I do not think John McCain would lead to an extension of the current administration. McCain is a principled and honorable person that has served his country. He was one of the earliest people to have recognized that the Iraqi war was going badly. If it had not been for him, Rumsfeld might still be the secretary of defense. McCain is definitely not the puppet of the neoconservatives that the current occupant of the White House has proven to be.
T.K. I agree with this proviso, Obama's statements with regard to Iran, are not particularly going to stop military intervention, if he backslides in his position, it still gives no clear indication of what he may do. The gas holiday tax he tried before in Illnois and it did not work, so it's not like he did not go down that road before both in thought and practice. Lastly, Mc Cain has been given hero status for his military service, in a war where medals were given out often without valor and for for acts inappropriate to their design . One has to view his internment within a military context of the time in that his commanding officer was not going to allow him a pass from prison because of the propaganda implications. That being said I don't want to de-mean his service just put it in context. Mc Cain's stand with regard to border security, illegal immigrant amnesty speaks all too loudy to me. He has yet to make that situation clear other than to say the American people gave him notice that his postion was not going to fly, so he backslide from it, temporarily. He might have a chance if he would make some of his positions clear, being politically correct as they all are, he too cannot speak to the issue of reducing the size, cost, reach and power of government.
I'm sad Hillary has not done better. It looks like we will not have a woman president for at least another four years. I will, however, vote Democratic, whoever the candidate may be. The Republicans have gotten us in enough trouble here. I can't even stand to look at GWB.
Becky
