I'm a socialist. Bernie Sanders and Eugene Debs are my two political hero's. After the failings of our current corporate capitalist state I believe we would be better off with some friendly humane democratic socialism. But who am I kidding?
As much as I admire Obama for being a nuanced moderate liberal- any sensible person should realize Obama is no socialist. But we live in an age where the word sensible is not very applicable to our political discourse.

And so perhaps to satisfy the Republican base which wants to portray Obama as some sort of radical leftist, John McCain suggests Obama with his "extreme" voting record might actually be a socialist. (As if socialist was some dirty word.)

                 obama with president hamid karzai at presidential palace in kabul, afghanistan

Did you know. According to Mike Allen of Politico online:

Barack Obama left Afghanistan on Sunday and made a second unannounced stop in Kuwait, Arab media reported.

Obama was honored at a banquet at the residence of Kuwait’s emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, according to the government news agency.

Obama and the other members of his delegation — Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) — also attended a meeting with the ermir and a dozen other state and royal officials of the Gulf state, the government

Also: John Rentoul, of the British Independent wrote this about Obama's impact in England:

The Democratic presidential candidate is Bill Clinton and Nelson Mandela rolled into one when it comes to sprinkling stardust. And now that he has ditched his left-wing baggage, Brown and Cameron are hoping that some of the magic will rub off on them.

Well you know I didn't agree with that "left wing baggage part". More on Mr. Rentoul later.

So I was reading the comments on the video of Obama meeting the troops that's on YouTube, and some of the comments on the Huffington Post under the article with the pictures from Obama's trip to the Middle East, and I am amazed at the ignorance of some of the people that are posting there. People are actually acting like Obama being well-recieved by excited troops is irrelevant because those troops were black, and that he wouldn't get the same reaction from white troops. Some even seem to believe that Obama's campaign specifically asked for only Black people to be in the Army that day so Obama wouldn't have to worry about a salty greeting. The ignorance of these people amazes me.

There appears to be some concern regarding Obama's movement and straegy throughout his trip overseas.  No worries.  The Obama Campaign is showing the world that the imperialistic, cowboy regime of the Bush Administration will end when Barack Obama becomes President of the United States.

Even Bush is sick of the Iraq fiasco...he has been mumbling about pulling out troops and about a "time horizon"...yes, "HORIZON," not a timeline, for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. Don't know about you, but I have never heard anyone talk about "time horizons" before. Makes me think of an event horizon around a black hole...which is an ominous comparison.

Remember, though, Bush's shifting to withdrawal is not by any choice of his. The Iraq government has told him in no uncertain terms that we have outlived our welcome and they do not want us there permanently.

The past seven and a half years have been demonstrative of the present administration's disdain for everything not Bush, including the judgment of leaders of nations around the world and the will of the its citizens. In the stead of diplomacy and cooperation, this Administration has turned to Madison Avenue styled PR to brainwash/hype/sell everything from the 'Coalition of the Willing' to 'death taxes'.

Yesterday, America may have jumped an ocean of sharks when CentCom attempted to propagandize clarify the der Spiegel article of Maliki in agreement with Obama and the 16 month timeline for U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. Unfortunately for right wing machine upholders masquerading as reporters, unless Murdoch establishes a worldwide media conglomerate with the legislative bodies of European and Middle Eastern nations passing laws that allow FCCs of those nations to pave the way for Murdoch Media Monopolies planet wide, their mantras, sloganeering and advertisements will not hold.  The globe has voted and Obama has won in a landslide victory.

Support women = Support Sebelius = Snub Clinton = Snub Clinton supporters = Snub women? I think something slipped there.

NYT:

Democrats said they thought it was less likely now than it was a month ago that Mr. Obama would choose Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York as his running mate, though they said she remained in consideration and that she was being vetted.

If he does not choose Mrs. Clinton, several Democrats said, it would be difficult for him to name any woman — like Gov. Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas, someone for whom he has had warm words. Both Clinton and Obama advisers said such a move could create a backlash among women who supported Mrs. Clinton.

Help me understand this theory. Women, and let's be clear that they are not talking about "Clinton loyalists" they said "women", who voted for Clinton would be upset if Obama was NOT a sexist?

This year marks my first excursion into political activism.

I have watched from the sidelines all my life.  I've always had strong political opinions, but I've always avoided airing them outside of circles of friends.  I've always voted, but never contributed or worked for a campaign.  I was in the "what can one person do?" camp.

One of my resolutions this year is to talk more about my support for Obama with people I meet casually, just to try to spread the word every bit I can.  

I'm writing this diary to others who might be in the same position.  You're a little shy with strangers.  You avoid confrontation.  Yes you can.  You can make a difference.  Today, I moved a low-information voter one little step toward voting for Obama.  I'm not a hero.  I didn't make much difference.  What will make a difference is if we all do a little bit more than we have ever done before.

Update:
Cool.  My first Rec List Diary.  Possibly because it's a slow time, but a big thank you to all who rec'd and commented.  One of the great things about dKos is the ability it gives all of us to support each other with information and encouragement as we work together.

What do you say when someone you care about tells you they're voting for McCain?  What do you say to someone who wants to vote for the man who would continue Bush's destructive policies - or worse?

Copy this diary and show it to them.  If you can get them to read the whole thing, it might just give them pause.

More below the fold...

Even by the admittedly low journalistic aptitude of The Weekly Standard, Lou Aguilar's column "Real Men vote for McCain: Ten Reasons Why" is premised on something so shallow and absurd that one can't help but respond. Below is Aguilar's 10 ancillary, misleading, and occasionally, nonsensical reasons "real men" vote for McCain, and my subsequent responses.

Here at Netroots Nation, the DNC's Parag Mehta gave an excellent presentation about the field plan for 2008, which focuses on neighbor-to-neighbor relationships.  Afterwards, he took questions, and the first question was no surprise: "What if my neighbor asks me about Obama's vote on FISA with telecom immunity?"

I didn't like Parag's advice answer on this, and I think I have a better suggestion.

What he suggested was to say, "all I can do is point you to Obama's words on this," followed with a summary of Obama's explanation of why he compromised.  I think there are two big problems with this kind of response:

$665 Raised!!!

Gabe's $5 Obama Fundraiser Link

My son Gabe (Gabro) just turned 2 years old on Friday. In the last two years, his mother and I have been blessed with the fact that he has been healthy, playful, social, and loving. For those who have had the chance to spend even a small amount of time with him, I think they can agree that those are just a few of his overall characteristics. We are also blessed to know that he loves NPR in the car, has his own "Daddy's lil Democrat" tshirt, has had "Lefty" the beanie baby donkey in his crib/bed since he was born, and understands the necessity to severely limit Fox News in the household he tends to spit up when watching it) :)

Progressives need to engage directly the argument that John McCain has some kind of "experience" that somehow outweighs Senator Obama's.  This is the only argument he has that seems to have much traction outside the narrow world of the Republican faithful and the Republican Party's corporate sponsors.

Fortunately, it's easy to do.

    After yesterday's Netroots Nation 2008 session with the Speaker of the U.S. House, I went up and shook Nancy Pelosi's hand and asked her directly whether impeachment and censure are still off the table. She answered that no, censure is not off the table (or even "definitely" not off the table, maybe); and as for impeachment, she again stepped aside from the question, as she did during her answers on the stage, by saying that (inherent) contempt was up to John Conyers. (Earth to Nancy: "contempt" and "impeachment" are separate issues...)

    So, while NP offered No Palaver about impeachment, the silver lining is that, as per my (non-used) question from askthespeaker.org, censure is still possible.

    (more)

I've been biting my nails over Barack's plans to give a speech in Germany.  I know everyone is really excited about this but I'm convinced it's a mistake.

First, there was much speculation that they would be doing it at the Brandenburg Gate, something that I found to be quite inappropriate. The fact that they STILL pursued it, even after various German politicians including Angela Merkel criticized the idea, was something I found stunningly arrogant.  

Now he will be speaking before the Victory Column, which is a relief. And I am still biting my nails. After all...as much as we want him to be...

Barack Obama isn't President yet.

What business does he really have giving a speech overseas like this?? What is the rationale behind it? To quote Tuffie's comment from the diary on the rec list:

This has backlash stamped all over it.  It fits every single GOP and media these: arrogance, President of Eurotrash or America?, etc., etc.  It makes me uneasy.  

This feels like it's all about Obama, Obama, Obama. It isn't going to gain him a SINGLE vote that he doesn't already have. It may, instead alienate those folks who already think he's too foreign and too different from them.

I must say, I'm a bit peeved this Sunday, with what's coming from Afghanistan.  Interviews with and reports about Barack from Kabul this morning are focusing on  the candidate's "War on Terror" positions.  And Obama, for my money, is not showing the vision or smarts to re-frame that most tiresome of Bush administration memes.

Like many other people, I was outraged by the decision of New Yorker editor David Remnick to publish Barry Blitt's now-infamous Michelle & Barack Obama cover illustration last week. But my response will not be to cancel my subscription. A subscription cancellation may not seem like a decision requiring a lot of thought in the grand scheme of things, but to me, it's a fairly big deal.