O O O

In The News

Oprah and Obama a hit in SC Chicago Tribune, United States
Oprah tries to give Obama a lift with black voters Reuters
Oprah Winfrey backs Barack Obama Telegraph.co.uk, United Kingdom
Andrew Young says Obama too young for White House Baltimore Sun, United States
Oprah-Obama double bill largest political NH rally in recent memory Boston Globe, United States Around 6,000 people -- young and old and predominately female -- filled up about half of the Verizon Wireless Arena, the state's largest facility ....... This was the most attended political event in recent state history. ..... The event was also remarkable for its stagecraft. Over 30 television cameras, blaring music, grand, long entrances from both Oprah and Obama with standing ovations added to the idea that something was different about this rally. ..... The crowd clinged to Oprah and her stories. Teenage girls shook like they saw a member of the Beatles when she was introduced to a 30 second standing ovation. ....... there was an authenticty in Oprah's voice.
Clinton No Longer Should Worry Just About Iowa MSNBC the race for the Democratic nomination is no longer a tight 1-state contest, but a truly competitive race across the country. ...... Obama is nipping at her heels, trailing in Iowa by 2 points and trailing in New Hampshire and South Carolina by just three points. ..... Bill Clinton is still VERY popular among Democrats, in most cases, more popular than all of the actual contenders, though Obama matches the FPOTUS in FAV rating in New Hampshire. ...... Hillary Clinton's support is what you'd expect: women, folks over 50 and union members. ..... the biggest demographic gap is generational, not gender. ..... in all three states, she's seen as having run the most negative campaign to date. ...... Obama's support is overwhelmingly among independents and those under 50. ...... If Clinton and Edwards are sharing some supporters, doesn't that signal that those two may begin going after each other more so than Obama ...... Obama leads overwhelmingly on change and is seen as more honest than Clinton ..... South Carolina ... among black voters, as he leads Clinton by 16 points among African-Americans. But among whites, Clinton leads by 16. ..... experience doesn't appear to be all that important to voters
Roger Cohen: Obama and the American idea International Herald Tribune, France "We can and should lead the world, but we have to apply wisdom and judgment. Part of our capacity to lead is linked to our capacity to show restraint." ...... the failures in Iraq; the abyss between U.S. principle and practice (Abu Ghraib); the rise of other nations (China); startling displays of American incoherence (Iran); economic vulnerability (the dollar as a declining store of value); and resentments stirred by any near hegemonic power. ....... As Joyce Carol Oates put it in The Atlantic: "How heartily sick the world has grown, in the first seven years of the 21st century, of the American idea!" It has become a "cruel joke." ........ the universality of the American proposition: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness under a constitutional government of limited powers. "I believe in American exceptionalism," he told me, but not one based on "our military prowess or our economic dominance." ......... "our exceptionalism must be based on our Constitution, our principles, our values and our ideals. We are at our best when we are speaking in a voice that captures the aspirations of people across the globe." ........ America's capacity to inspire; it remains unique. ..... And I still see no credible alternative for stability to the far-flung American garrisons that act as the offsetting power to old rivalries in Asia and Europe. ....... There are cousins of mine in Kenya who can't get a job without paying an exorbitant bribe to some mid-level functionary. ...... I can speak forcefully about the need for Muslim countries to reconcile themselves to modernity in ways they have failed to do. ...... Al Qaeda attacked the West in Kenya, Bali and New York. Obama's father was Kenyan. The senator was schooled in Indonesia. He attended college in New York. The parallels are strange. They can also be a source of the toughness married to intuition for which he still seeks complete expression. ........ Nowhere in American history has the gulf between ideals and sordid practice been greater than on questions of race.

Attention Women of Iowa: Oprah!!! Time The first person to arrive outside Des Moines' HyVee Center on Saturday morning — a mere seven hours before Oprah Winfrey would take the stage ....... Dressed for a long wait in snowy 12-degree weather, Spurlin, 37 ...... a woman voter who knows what she's doing every day at 4pm ....... "Oprah's so personable and funny," said Spurlin ...... In 2004, just 66,690 of 340,241 female registered Democrats in Iowa caucused. ..... 1,385 people (no gender statistics were available) worked four-hour volunteer shifts for Obama in order to qualify for a ticket to Winfrey's appearance ....... the mostly-female crowd exploded in joy. Many women were moved to tears.

China steps up Tibet campaign in Nepal Times of India
Obama and the 'Oprah Effect': can she sway voters? Christian Science Monitor
Behind The NIE CBS News
Eight shot in two church incidents in Colorado Reuters
Nearly 30000 See Obama-Oprah In SC MSNBC Oprah Winfrey took the stage at William Bryce Football Stadium to deafening cheers. Over 29,000 people filled the risers, some having driven from as far as Savannah, Ga. .... "For the first time, I'm stepping out of my pew because I've been inspired. I've been inspired to believe that a new vision is possible for America. Dr King dreamed the dream. But we don't have to just dream the dream anymore. We get to vote that dream into reality," she told the crowd. ........... "I got some sense, I know the difference between a book club and this seminal moment in our history." ....... asking Obama to wait to run was the same as someone telling someone that they should wait to try and better their lives. ....... the atmosphere was infectious with Arrested Development and local bands playing, getting the crowd to sing and dance along. ....... Obama also had a fine moment, bringing thousands to their feet saying that it was time to "stand up" for change. ......... Music from U2 swelled across the stadium, and Obama sauntered up to the stage, throwing his arms around both women and the three waved to the screaming crowd. It was a beautifully choreographed political moment ........ One older woman, Manatha Young, from Columbia said that she had been deciding between Hillary Clinton and Obama but after Oprah she's looking more positively at Obama. ...... asking the crowd to text their cell phone numbers to the campaign. ...... broke a Guinness World Record by conducting the world's largest phone bank, 36,426 people in the audience called four names of South Carolinian voters listed on the back of their tickets and asked them to support Barack Obama. ........ 18 percent of the first 8500 people who signed into the event said they wanted to volunteer. Sixty-eight percent of people who got tickets online to the event had never been contacted by the campaign before. ...... Black voters will be convinced of his viability in a general election if he can win the majority-white states of Iowa and New Hampshire. ..... Manchester, New Hamphshire to speak at the sold out 11,000 seat stadium there. ..... months of buzz and speculation.
Offer your election scenario Chicago Tribune The majority of forecasters said Hillary Clinton will beat out Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination (52 percent to 44 percent), but so many of them think Clinton, if nominated, will lose in the general election that Obama is actually the best bet of readers to win the presidential election -- 36 percent picked Obama to win, 28 percent went for Clinton and only 10 percent chose Mitt Romney, the next closest candidate. I, too, think Obama will win. My guess is that Clinton will get hit with an Obama-lanche in Iowa, lose narrowly to him in New Hampshire and then, in a furious attempt to right her campaign and puncture Obama's balloon, go too negative and remind many Democrats that they've had enough of the polarizing pageantry of the Clintons and it's time to move on.
New Clinton Ad in Iowa, NH The Associated Press
Clinton campaign branches out by generations Los Angeles Times












Oprah Winfrey Campaigns for Obama in Iowa NH

O O Oprah, Sa Sa Santa

Oprah Needs To Hit The Campaign Trail

Oprah, looks like you will draw 80,000 people to your South Carolina event. I forgive you for breaking our record of 30,000 in Washington Square Park here in New York City. But we will break your record all over again come summer. We will get a million people into Central Park. That is how we will send Barack off to Denver. The idea is to sweep the country in November.

The Largest Rally In US Presidential Campaign History

In The News

Huckabee and Obama lead pack in Iowa New York Daily News Huckabee tops Romney 39% to 17% in the Hawkeye State, according to the latest Newsweek poll. Among Democrats, Obama leads Clinton, 35% to 29%. John Edwards trails with 18% support among likely caucus-goers.
High noon in Iowa: one small state, one global decision Guardian Unlimited
Primary dates in NH, Iowa will clash with breaks Boston Globe
Book flattens Nepal king's divine myth Times of India
Kernels from Iowa: Oprah stumps with Obama Kansas City Star “He has an ear for eloquence and a tongue dipped in the unvarnished truth” ....... “I’m not here to tell you what to think,” she said. “I’m here to tell you to think. Seriously.” ...... the Winfrey event became the hottest ticket of the Iowa caucus season — and Obama’s most heavily attended campaign event here to date. ...... “There are people here to see Oprah. I’m a byproduct” ...... polls show Obama pulling even to Democratic rival Sen. Hillary Clinton in nationwide surveys. In Iowa, some polls show Obama building on a slight lead over Clinton and John Edwards. ....... “Experience in the hallways of government is not as important to me as experience on the pathways of life” ..... “Backstage, someone asked, ‘Are you nervous?’ and I said, ‘You’re damned right I’m nervous.’ ”
TV host Oprah gives buzz to Obama campaign AFP a rousing speech to a sea of screaming fans. ...... One of the biggest crowds so far in the 2008 race for president -- some 18,500 people according to Obama's campaign -- crammed into a hall in the early primary voting state of Iowa to hear Winfrey's first ever speech for a political candidate. ........ some of whom screamed they wanted her as vice president ...... Obama's campaign had to change the venue for Sunday's appearance from an 18,000-seat basketball arena to an 80,000-seat football stadium to accommodate the vast crowds expected. ....... the second-most admired woman in the United States -- just behind former first lady Hillary Clinton ..... One woman in the crowd fainted while Obama was on stage. He asked a paramedic who was in the audience to assist her. "This is what happens when folks get too excited for Oprah," Obama said.
Oprah Backs Obama For President Sky News
The Republicans Find Their Obama New York Times Washington’s shock over Mike Huckabee’s sudden rise in the polls — he “came from nowhere” ....... the Barack Obama polling surge of days earlier, the press pack has proved an unreliable guide to election 2008 ........ Huckabee’s abrupt ascent to first place in some polling nationwide ....... Like Senator Obama, Mr. Huckabee is the youngest in his party’s field. (At 52, he’s also younger than every Democratic contender except Mr. Obama, who is 46.) ........ Both men have a history of speaking across party and racial lines. Both men possess that rarest of commodities in American public life: wit. Most important, both men aspire (not always successfully) to avoid the hyper-partisanship of the Clinton-Bush era. ......... Mr. Huckabee and Mr. Obama may be united in catching the wave of an emerging zeitgeist that is larger than either party’s ideology. An exhausted and disillusioned public may be ready for a replay of the New Frontier pitch of 1960. ......... Huckabee’s polling spike is that it occurred just after the G.O.P. YouTube debate on CNN, where Mr. Romney and Rudy Giuliani vied to spray the most spittle at illegal immigrants. ....... Next to this mean-spiritedness, Mr. Huckabee’s tone leapt off the screen. ....... Huckabee’s record on race in general (and in attracting African-American votes) is dramatically at odds with much of his party ...... portraying the black Democratic Senate candidate in Tennessee, Harold Ford Jr., as a potential despoiler of white women. ........ After effusively praising Mr. Huckabee as unique among the G.O.P. contenders, Dr. West said: “I told him, ‘You are for real.’ Black voters in Arkansas aren’t stupid. They know he’s sincere about fighting racism and poverty.” ......... rivals whose main calling cards of fear, torture and nativism have become more strident with every debate ........ South Carolina’s 2000 Republican primary was a jamboree of race-baiting that included a whispering campaign branding Senator McCain as the father of an illegitimate black child. .......... an overwhelming majority of voters of both parties not only want change but also regard “reducing the partisan fighting in government” as high on their agenda. To his surprise, Mr. Hart found that there’s even a majority (59 percent) seeking a president who would help America in “regaining respect around the world.” ......... Florida, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona ...... The huge spread in the Journal-NBC poll between an unnamed Democrat and Republican in the presidential race — 50 to 35 percent — shrank to a 1 percent lead when Mrs. Clinton was pitted against Mr. Giuliani. ......... The more polarizing and negative a candidate turns in style, the more that candidate risks playing Nixon to Mr. Obama’s Kennedy.
Hillary Clinton wobbles as her backers turn to Barack Obama Times Online The presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton, the Democrat frontrunner, is facing a wave of defections by supporters to Barack Obama, as an aura of “inevitability” about her nomination fades. ........ “I think Oprah can change anybody’s mind. I really do. She can draw people in and get them to listen to him,” Quarles said. ........ Former “Friends of Bill”, who served in the White House in 1990s but defected early on to Obama’s campaign, are not surprised by the drift away from Hillary. ......... Betsy Myers, a White House adviser on women’s issues - and sister of Dee-Dee Myers, Bill Clinton’s former press secretary - is now chief operating officer for Obama’s campaign and responsible for much of its organ-isational prowess. ......... Myers worked with Clinton when she was first lady. .... I was really looking for a new generation of leadership skills, away from the old control and command model ..... William Daley, Bill Clinton’s former secretary of commerce, is another prominent Obama backer ............ Among the American people there is a bit of a Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton issue. ....... she would be better suited to the job of Senate majority leader. “It would be perfect for her” ...... Clinton’s campaign staff - normally self-assured - began to wobble last week as the polls narrowed. ......... In South Carolina, the latest poll shows Obama moving into first place over Clinton by 26% to 24%. ........ Judie Reever, a state representative in New Hampshire, believes Clinton is looking vulnerable for the first time. ........ Every time I heard Obama speak, I kept saying, ‘Yes!’, and I suddenly realised he was the person I was going to support
Civil Rights Icon Calls Obama Too Young The Associated Press "He's probably gone with more black women than Barack," Young said of former President Clinton
US polls move against top election contenders Telegraph.co.uk the wide-open, $2 billion battle to elect the most powerful politician in the world ......... her 88-year-old mother, Dorothy Rodham ....... "The only other universally adored person coming to Iowa this December is Santa" ....... a fight dominated by the explosive issues of religion, terror and immigration. ...... the first time in eight decades that no incumbent president or vice-president is attempting to win the nomination; it is the most expensive in history; and it could well put the first woman, black, Italian-American, ordained minister or Mormon into the White House. ...... There's a hurricane of activity out there on the campaign trail right now ....... the first $2 billion campaign in history. ....... Clinton has one of the most formidable political organisations ever assembled. They play with broad shoulders and sharp elbows. They take no prisoners and accept no criticism. ........... "The next two or three weeks are going to be just blistering. If I'm Barack Obama, I'm thinking of what Bette Davis once said: 'Buckle up it's going to be a bumpy ride'." ........ John Zogby said: "She has probably the best name recognition of any candidate in the entire history of presidential elections - but she still only has 25 to 30 per cent support in Iowa."
Oprah and Chelsea Clinton Hit Iowa Washington Post "You know I've never done this before and it feels like I'm out of my pew," Winfrey told the crowd, "I'm nervous." ....... Leading up to the speech, the Obama campaign all but ground to a halt as senior advisers in Chicago helped Winfrey prepare. Taking the stage in Des Moines, dressed in a lilac velvet suit and accompanied by the candidate's wife, Michelle, Winfrey initially appeared nervous and clutched a sheaf of papers as she spoke. But she quickly warmed to the crowd, her voice booming through the hall as she declared that "this is not a time for any of us to shrink away from a new, bold path for our country." ......... Winfrey shifted in her seat nervously as Obama piled on praise. "This is a wonderful person. We love her. I am grateful for her being here," he said, before turning towards his guest and adding, "she's embarrassed." ........ "You know, I am so tired. I'm tired of politics as usual. That's why you seldom see politicians on my show -- because I only have an hour." ....... "We need good judgment," she continued. "We need Barack Obama." ....... People began arriving hours before the 3:30 central local time appearance ....... Chelsea Clinton worked the crowd energetically afterwards with a gracious "Hi, thank you for coming," while urging people to support Clinton on Jan. 3 ....... Clinton ignored questions about the Winfrey event, turning away from the microphones to shake hands along the rope line. ........ "My feelings about Oprah and Obama are the same," Randolph said.
Chelsea Clinton hits the trail Boston Globe
Clinton's Mother, Daughter Hit Trail The Associated Press 88-year-old mother Dorothy Rodham and 27-year-old daughter Chelsea Clinton ....... Chelsea worked a crowd hard ..... the Clinton women went to an elementary school in Williamsburg where Clinton displayed a list prepared by schoolchildren about what the next president should do. .... "What does the next president do to help children," Clinton read from the list. "She — I like that, she — could put Band-Aids on children that are hurt." ......... the state has one of highest populations in the nation over 85.
As Obama Draws Winfrey, Clinton Adds Family Value New York Times a second audience of about 7,000 in Cedar Rapids. ...... “It is my honor to introduce to you the first lady of television, Oprah Winfrey.” A wave of camera flashes illuminated a downtown convention center here as Ms. Winfrey entered to a thunderous roar. ........ the nation was at a critical moment in its history that required a candidate who could heal divisions and chart a new direction ......... The Obama campaign captured the names and addresses of thousands of those who attended the rallies. Those who agreed to volunteer for at least four hours over the past two weeks received premium tickets. ......... “I think Oprah is John the Baptist, leading the way for Obama to win”
Clinton Team Turns Iowa Focus to Women Washington Post "It's obvious that Obama has made some inroads with women," said one senior Clinton adviser ....... Senior Obama strategist Steve Hildebrand argued that the Clinton logic is wrong, because it is based on "the assumption that women voters are going to support Hillary Clinton because she's a woman. That's not how voters make up their minds." ........ Among women likely to vote in the Jan. 3 Democratic contest, 32 percent supported Obama, 31 supported Clinton and 19 percent supported Edwards. ....... But perhaps Clinton is not the right woman ....... the broad category of unmarried women who constitute nearly half the female electorate, just completed a survey that shows women to be motivated by Clinton's candidacy but more driven by a desire to bring about change -- which would appear to mesh with the Obama message. ........ "I'm actually surprised at myself that I'm not wholeheartedly supporting Hillary," Lux said. "It grieves me as a woman."
Hillary Clinton welcome Bill's advice, and that's all Baltimore Sun Clinton says she'll welcome any advice her husband, former President Bill Clinton, would provide her if she wins the White House, but she'll be the one running things.

Charleston Law Review: Barack Article

http://www.charlestonlawreview.org/obama.pdf

FOREWORD.DOC 11/13/2007 3:09:30 PM
Volume 2 Fall 2007 Issue 1
FOREWORD
By Senator Barack Obama

Law is the language of power. It is a language that helps
resolve conflicts, governs the order of transactions, and
distributes the rights to property and power. It is a language
that describes the legitimate exercise of force by the state and
defines the limits of protest against that force. Law is the
language not just of courts and of contracts but of everyday life.
It speaks to the constraints and commitments we accept as
citizens in a nation under the rule of law.

Because lawyers are trained in the language of law, we have
a special responsibility. We are not like other professionals with
a skill to sell to the highest bidder. We are not merely
technicians implementing faithfully the designs of others. We are
often relied on to be participants in the debate over rights and
power; we are called on to be stewards of public order, justice,
and democracy; we are called on to be architects and catalysts
both for making real the American Dream, and for protecting
people from abuse around the globe. We are called on for our
judgment and counsel, not just our ability to use the language to
any advantage.

It is not merely the lawyer’s “professional responsibility” to
be an agent of the court and to fulfill the ethical duties of fair
dealing and honesty. Those duties are important, but lawyers
also have an added burden to ensure that those without access to
the language of power can still participate and be heard in the
ongoing national conversation about what America means today
and can mean in the future. It is a conversation about rights,
wrongs, resources, and responsibilities. Lawyers help to ensure
that this conversation is not one-sided—that the rules of the legal
and political game are fair and do not inalterably favor certain
groups over others.

There are many arguments for the lawyer’s special duty in
the service of the public interest. The first is based on
pragmatism. Someone has to perform this role and lawyers are
often best positioned to help those who need a voice. If such
voices are systematically denied legitimate expression, the
system of order loses legitimacy and will eventually collapse or be
overthrown. Lawyers have the tools to give expression to those
voices. We know how to go to court, seek injunctions and
restraining orders, demand disclosure of information, and give
meaning to the Constitution’s protections of individual rights. We
know how to draft binding agreements, structure sustainable
institutions, and codify fair procedures that facilitate cooperation
and collaboration.

The second argument for the lawyer’s special responsibility
has to do with the character of law itself. Law is rarely selfexecuting,
and rights must be exercised and defended in order to
have meaning. Rights that exist on paper but are never
exercised, challenged, or defended are hardly secure as rights at
all. A right has meaning because it can be lost or taken away.
The system of law requires that there be people willing to help
others exercise and defend their rights. For the public
conversation to have meaning, people must have not only the
right to speak, but also the opportunity to be heard. The lawyer’s
skills and privileged access make this possible.

Finally, lawyers, who are the beneficiaries of numerous
advantages and privileges, have a moral duty to help those who
are less fortunate. It is wrong for us to hoard our capacity to be
useful or to deny it to those who need it most. That does not
mean that we cannot do work for private interests willing to pay
for our services. Nor does it mean that we cannot be discerning
about those who benefit from our contributions and generosity.

But it does mean that all of us with the ability to make a
difference by committing ourselves to a public purpose should do
so.

Throughout history, lawyers have been called upon in times
of change and challenge to help guide America toward its true
potential. It was Charles Hamilton Houston who marshaled the
law to create the strategy in Brown v. Board of Education that
ended legalized apartheid and made real the promise of equal
justice for all. It was Archibald Cox who knew during the
Watergate scandal that if our democracy was to remain one of
laws and not of men, telling the President of United States “no”
was essential. And more recently, it was Sandra Day O’Connor
who reminded us in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld that “a state of war is
not a blank check” when it comes to the civil liberties of
American citizens.

Today, at the beginning of the 21st century, we face new
challenges that call upon lawyers and all leaders to help guide
the course of history. We face new security threats and new
economic challenges. We must confront growing inequality in
income, wealth, and skills, and we face global environmental
risks that may be unprecedented in their scope and potential
damage. Our constitutional system has been assaulted by an
overreaching Executive Branch cloaked in secrecy and hostile to
precedent and evidence-based decision-making. Our image and
influence abroad has been weakened, and our ability to pass on
to future generations a world that is more free, more fair, and
more secure is threatened—even as the world most needs
America’s vision and leadership.

This is a moment when America needs its lawyers to look
outward and ask what they can do to be the catalysts and
architects of a better world. This is a moment when America
needs its lawyers—and all its citizens—to commit in some
meaningful way to public service. Doing any less suggests a
poverty of ambition.

Lawyers should help make real the American dream and
protect people from abuse and injustice around the globe. We
must join with religious leaders and grassroots organizers and
business leaders and volunteers across the nation. Whether it
means working to overcome health and wealth disparities, or
seeking to strengthen communities faced with economic or other
challenges; whether it means advocating on behalf of
disadvantaged communities, or restoring integrity and trust to
public leadership—whatever vision you have to make yourself
useful, each of us has a special responsibility to answer the call
to public service. The time is now.

"Homeland Insecurity"

By Barack Obama

The Wall Street Journal

America is in a defining moment. This is the wealthiest nation in history. Yet many Americans feel that the dream so many generations fought for is slowly slipping away.

I've spoken with folks across this country who have worked all their lives to put their children through college, but now can't afford the rising tuition. I've spoken with many others who've done everything right, but fell into bankruptcy once they became sick, because they couldn't afford their skyrocketing medical bills. And since working Americans have to pay these rising costs with incomes that remain stagnant, many are falling deep into debt, unable to set anything aside for savings.

So at a time when many Americans have no margin for error, it's no surprise that the downturn in the housing market has done enormous harm. In the coming years, over two million Americans could face foreclosure.

The larger risk, however, is that what is happening in housing could spill over elsewhere. A number of firms borrowed huge sums to make investments tied to the housing market. They are now suffering big losses that could trigger a slowdown of the entire economy. We're already seeing some troubling signs. Consumer confidence is the lowest it's been in years. Pension funds are losing money, threatening retirement security. And banks are also losing money, resulting in a credit crunch. That means businesses have less money to invest and people can't get loans, which could lead to significant job losses in the months ahead.

This is a moment of challenge. But it's also a moment of opportunity which we must seize, to make sure our economic future is secure. That starts with addressing the source of our economic woes -- the crisis in the housing market. For most Americans, a home is not just a place to live; it's their most valuable possession -- so preventing a larger crisis in the housing market means providing greater economic security for middle-class families.

This week, President Bush outlined a limited agreement with lenders to ensure that some families don't face higher mortgage payments they can't afford. It is a start. But we need to do more. That's why, several months ago, I proposed tax breaks to help millions of homeowners make their payments, direct relief for the victims of mortgage fraud, and counseling so homeowners know what options are available to avoid foreclosure and refinance. And I have outlined a program to help make it easier for middle-class families, not speculators, to renegotiate or refinance their mortgages.

To prevent the current problems in the housing market from spreading, shaking confidence in other sectors of the economy, we need to put money in the pockets of middle-class Americans. In September, I proposed a middle-class tax cut that would offset the payroll tax that working Americans are already paying. It would give every working family a tax cut worth up to $1,000. It would also make retirement more secure by eliminating income taxes for any senior making less than $50,000 per year. And over the long term, I've called for an automatic workplace pension enrollment policy, which would include a federal government match for part of the savings of middle-class families so they can count on more savings when they retire.

But the test of judgment and leadership isn't just how you respond to problems; it's what you do to prevent them. That's why, last spring, I called for a summit on housing with representatives from the government and private sector similar to the one that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson attended earlier this week. I also introduced a bill that would treat those who commit mortgage fraud like the criminals they are -- a measure that might have prevented the current crisis from escalating. Three months ago, I asked lenders to show flexibility to Americans trying to sell or refinance their houses.

In the last several months, I've also proposed a number of steps to prevent another economic crisis. These include restoring market transparency by making sure there's adequate government oversight over the rating agencies, so we can avoid practices that can mislead investors. We also need to stop credit-card companies from engaging in deceptive practices that push middle-class Americans further into debt. In addition, we need to update our regulatory system to reflect a 21st-century marketplace where so much credit comes from nonbank lenders, rather than traditionally regulated banks. And as we reform our regulatory rules, let's do so with an eye toward the global economy in which we're operating.

It's going to take a new kind of leadership to strengthen our middle class and make sure America's economic future is secure -- leadership that can challenge the special interests, bring Republicans and Democrats together, and rally this nation around a common purpose. And that is exactly the kind of leadership I intend to offer as president of the United States.

In The News

Gently Protesting Putin TIME Germany's spokesman said the process was "neither free, fair nor democratic." ...... due to leave office next year (though he has suggested that he will continue to be a "national leader" of some sort)
Nancy Kruh: Attacking Obama Dallas Morning News
New Obama Ad Airs in Iowa New York Times
Clark Stumps for Hillary RealClearPolitics Blog
Obama Writes Essay for SC Law Journal The Associated Press Charleston Law Review editor Matt Kendall, an Obama supporter himself, said the senator was the only candidate the journal approached. But he said the staff also would approach a Republican presidential candidate about writing for the publication. http://www.charlestonlawreview.org/obama.pdf
Sen. Clinton says Wall St must share blame for subprime Reuters
Clinton Urges Foreclosures Moratorium The Associated Press
Huckabee Now Ahead in South Carolina; Romney, Thompson Giuliani 2nd LifeNews.com
Film ban in twin states Calcutta Telegraph
Poll Finds Hispanics Returning to Earlier Preference for Democrats New York Times
Pew study sees growing power of Hispanic vote Los Angeles Times
On Mortgage Relief, Who Gains the Most? New York Times
Murdoch’s Team Shaping Up at Wall St. Journal New York Times
Web Access and E-Mail on Flights New York Times

Romney moves to allay Mormon concerns directly Christian Science Monitor
Poll: Clinton, Giuliani Lead in Ohio The Associated Press
Omaha residents struggle to make sense of shooting USA Today
Is Obama Too Likable? CBS News
Obama seeks to inspire, gig Clinton in new ad Boston Globe Obama's rousing speech to Iowa Democrats last month was one of the presidential campaign's most compelling moments so far. ....... The 60-second spot shows him on stage -- as white audience members listen raptly and laudatory media comments are superimposed on the screen -- as he delivers the rhetorical high point of the address.
Obama's Oprah event moves to stadium as demand soars Chicago Sun-Times
Oprah rally with Obama in South Carolina moved to football stadium Boston Herald
Obama, donning Kennedy's cloak, issues "call to serve" Boston Globe
Clinton's Economic Turn Atlantic Online
Man in Clinton office hostage case wanted to be shot Boston Herald

Robert Reich's Blog
Leading America after January 20, 2009 Under the first model, presidents lead by finding the putative “center.” Their pollsters try to discover what the public wants, and the president fashions policies that will be most popular. This was Bill Clinton's model ....... Under the second model, presidents decide what’s good for America and then try to sell, cajole, intimidate, or lie their way toward that goal. George W. Bush hasn't waivered in any of his beliefs, all the evidence to the contrary ........ the choice need not be pandering or bullying ....... the next president must be bold but also be willing to modify if facts and conditions change .... enter into a dialogue with America -- educating the public, but being willing to be educated in return.