Sign On to Progressives For Obama Petition : [ powered by iPetitions.com ]

#	Name	Comments
101	Cloudy	Barack Obama has long shown that he is the best candidate for the Democrats and would be the best president of all the leading Democratic contenders. At this point, when it appears Hillary has no realistic chance to catch up to Obama in pledged delegates, it is unfortunate that Obama is facing some of the toughest going in the campaign to date -- after he already successfully surmounted a virtually impregnable front-loading of the primaries on Feb 5. This is a time when Democrats and progressives should be uniting behind Barack Obama as the presumptive nominee.
102	J. Miranda Brocki	I was only interested in who could best stand against a republican candidate in November, but I have been swayed by Senator Obama’s words and deeds. I believe we have the opportunity here to elect a Lincoln-esque human being to the highest office in our land.
103	Anonymous	The people speak after all...and they say Obama!
104	sue davis	Barack must win!
105	John Joseph Brophy
106	Jane English
107	LisaGay Hamilton
108	Eric Nelson
109	Donise L. Davis	I'll add that I believe with Obama we'll see a racial healing the likes of which we haven't see in a long while and if not that, then certainly a journey began. I believe this to also be important for all Americans.
110	Deborah	This is the most important election in the history of this country. It is a critical turning point for America. We either preserve democracy or allow it to be completely eroded by a disgraceful corporate media, self serving elites, and ignorance. Everyday I watch this country, my country, our country transform into something that vaguely resembles the awesome philosophy and ideals expressed by the Founding Fathers. I don’t want to lose the battle to preserve the Constitution and the values once held by all Americans. It certainly seems like democracy is slipping away. I support Obama for President of the United States. His powerful words stir my soul and renew my hope that the idea of America, the greatness of America, and the Constitution. People can fight for a government that truly is for the people by the people. I hope the Democratic Party abandons the madness and dysfunction of the current politics to support a rare and gifted leader: Barack Obama. Surely, the Democrats understand how crucial this election is for America.
111	Hany Khalil	Thanks for leading the way on this.
112	John Forney	We need the vitality and promise of change that Obama represents. We need someone who, for once, will talk to the American public like they are adults.
113	Lezlie V Cox	We need Obama in the White House! Al Gore would be great, but he's busy.
114	Mildred Williamson
115	Lori Saporito	We are so ready as a nation to embrace progressive issues. Barack Obama has the ability to listen and work with us.
116	Peter Dorfman
117	Paul L. Woodring
118	Johnnie
119	Robert Goodman	Hillary is not completely and publicly vetted. Her close relationship with the ultra conservative congressional group, 'The Family' (http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2007/09/hillarys-prayer.html), and the Clintons' membership in the one world government groups: The Bilderberg Group, the Trilateral Commission and the Council On Foreign Relations, reveal their actual intentions.
120	Sharron Howard	My priorities are ending Iraq war and using diplomacy to avoid future wars, solving problems with the economy, and providing health insurance for all Americans.
121	Michael Braun
122	Tim Wise
123	Kavi Grace	Obama is our best hope to inspire us to change the stagnant politics of the last 20 years. Yes, WE can!
124	Kit Gomez Alba
125	maxine rushing
126	Robert Cohen
127	Joan Suarez
128	Ellen Gurzinsky
129	Pam Thompson
130	Mark Nickels
131	Lisle Merriman
132	Julide Ozan Minion
133	Anthony Weber
134	Casey Thomas
135	Abel Tomlinson	Obama is far superior to Clinton as a progressive candidate. She is a pro-war hawk and corrupted far more by DC insider special interests of weapons, drugs, insurance etc. She is a neoliberal corporate-centered economic ideologue-NAFTA?
136	James
137	Margaret "Julie" Finch
138	Fran Ansley
139	Joy Bunton
140	Maria Hamlin Zuniga	Progressives abroad should join up in this effort to work with Obama on his campaign for social justice all over the world.
141	Todd Gitlin
142	Paul Buhle
143	John Gamble	Hillary! You Do Have a Choice! You can continue on the low road. Negative campaign tactics will further denigrate and marginalize your opponent Barack Obama. You can diminish his leadership experiences (while falsely exaggerating yours), you can call attention to his race (while exploiting your gender), you can question his patriotism (while noting McCain’s), you can mock his oratory skills (as just words rather than as calls for action), and you can reduce the nuances of his language (by resorting to sound bites). Yes, you can! You could even search for additional inflammatory tapes of the Reverend Wright, knowing CNN and Fox News will loop them endlessly. Or…you can take the high road. Yes, you can! I urge you. Take a time out. Think about what the high road would be like. I see two paths. You could withdraw and throw your support to Barack, a logical choice given the miniscule chances you have of actually winning the nomination (the math is now almost inevitable), or you could continue to campaign…but you could choose do so in a constructive and positive manner. Meet Barack on the high ground. Or, raise the bar! Talk positively about your platform and his; they are virtually the same (the economy, healthcare, the war, the environment, the supreme court, and national security). Make it clear that you share similar plans and that come next January, whether it is you or Barack who becomes our next President, those plans will put our nation on the road to a better future. Make it clear that you respect his capacity to lead. He will respect yours. Address race and gender in a nuanced way, building on his speech by adding weight and substance to the national conversation. If you change your campaign rhetoric to a positive message, I am convinced Barack will join you. If not, challenge him to meet you on higher ground, and walk that high road together. Do this for the good of the Democratic Party and for the good of the nation. I am convinced that if you take the high road, you will actually increase your chances of winning the nomination. They will remain slim, but, in the end, super-delegates will be more willing support a positive candidate than a negative one…and, if you do not win the nomination, you will have at least increased our chances of winning the Presidency, and winning greater majorities in the House and Senate. This election is about our chances and our futures, not yours. John McCain and Mike Huckabee took the high road in the closing weeks of their campaigns. Mitt Romney, the negative campaigner, fell from grace. This has left McCain less damaged than he might have been. Your current low road tactics will leave both you and Barack looking like damaged goods by November. The low road hurts you more than it hurts Barack (look at the recent polls). Negativity is driving voters away from the Democratic Party and into the McCain column. Stop! Take a moment to think about us. I am a life long Democrat. My baptism came in 1956, when I was thirteen. My Uncle Bill O’Brian took me to see Adeli Stevenson at a field house at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. I had been there before with him to watch RPI play hockey, and to watch the Harlem Globe Trotters. As an eighth grader, I was on the cusp of political awareness. I knew enough to grasp the essence of Stevenson’s speech, but certainly did not understand its full significance. Nevertheless, I was awed by Stevenson’s presentation; he was an orator, like Obama. His message of empowering the disenfranchised resonated in my young mind, and the poetry of his words was inspiring. I came home to my Republican parents, who were avidly supporting Eisenhower, with a pocket full of “Stevenson for President” buttons. I proceeded to wear them to counter my mother’s rhinestone-studded “I Like Ike” pendant that she wore that fall. To my dismay, Eisenhower and Nixon won in a landslide. In 1960, I was too young to vote for JFK, but as a senior in high school I followed his campaign. I was born and raised in Albany, a town dominated by an Irish political machine (the remnants of Tammany Hall). My uncles were all blue collar Democrats, and many of my parent’s friends were Irish Catholics who still talked about Al Smith and his disastrous run as the first Catholic presidential candidate. I was aware of the emerging civil rights movement. I was aware of the poisonous rhetoric of Joe McCarthy. I was aware of Cold War politics. I was aware of Nixon’s Checkers Speech. I watched the first televised debates. I saw hope in JFK, and he won. My politics came of age during the era of Martin Luther King, Pete Seeger and the Weavers, SDS, the Black Panthers, Robert Kennedy, Eugene McCarthy, the Vietnam War, Watergate, the Women’s Liberation Movement, the Gay Rights Movement, AIDS, and Iran Contra. At sixty-five, I am an old school progressive, a dyed-in-the-wool leftist, but I also understand the need for compromise and unity with those who think differently. As this year’s election cycle began, I was excited. Democrats have a real opportunity to lead. Bush and Cheney have destroyed the Republican revolution, and our nation. We produced a credible and exciting field of candidates. I was happy and optimistic. Regardless of the eventual nominee, it seemed like a win-win opportunity. Initially, of the top three, I supported John Edwards because I thought he offered the most progressive and detailed platform, but I was torn. You, Hillary, and Barack seemed equally strong. The prospect of the first woman President or the first black President was enticing. It was not until New Hampshire and South Carolina that my preference started to emerge. It became apparent that Edwards was not viable, and it became apparent that you, Hillary, were willing to win at any cost. At that point, I chose Barack. It was your emerging negativity that determined my choice. Unfortunately, you and Bill have continued down the path of slash and burn politics that I find so offensive. Now, I am not sure I could vote for you in November even if you somehow garner the nomination. It is that bad. But, for the sake of the nation, there is still time for you to make a different choice. Give us “a profile in courage” moment. Do a one-eighty. Continue to campaign, but go hyper-positive. Muzzle Bill, and Geraldine, and James Carville. Outdo Barack in your generosity. Speak on behalf of the party and the Democratic agenda. Take on John McCain while supporting your teammate, Barack. If you can do that, I might even vote for you in the North Carolina primary this May. At this point, you have nothing to lose, and we have everything to gain. John Gamble University of North Carolina Greensboro
144	jane kurson
145	Michael James
146	Harold Jacobs	To be truly engaged politically from the left, one has an obligation to provide critical support for the most progressive, viable alternative. Within the context of the upcoming presidential election, Obama is by far the most deserving of that support. An opportunity like this and a candidate like this comes along very rarely in the course of contemporary American history. I will do everything I reasonably can to see to it that he wins the democratic nomination and the presidency.
147	Philip Bowman	Before the campaign, I was supportive of Mrs. Clinton. But her conduct during the campaign convinces me she cannot win the presidential election and should not be nominated by the democratic party. She is power mad and untrustworthy.
148	Sean Dadson
149	Sarah Wyman	Let's take Obama to the White House!
150	Karen Zelermyer