Why I Am Supporting Barack Obama

Today, I am announcing my endorsement of Barack Obama for President.

This wasn't an easy decision for me. Democrats were blessed this year with many talented and capable candidates, and I believe both Sen. Clinton and Sen. Obama would make fine presidents. But Sen. Obama's proven judgment, his hopeful vision for America, and his unmatched ability to motivate millions of Americans eager for change made the choice for me.

I have enormous respect for Sen. Clinton. She is smart, dedicated and a champion of those often underserved and forgotten. She has a remarkable record of achievement that inspires us all. And her election would fulfill a life long dream for so many of us who have been fighting for women's rights. She would make a great president.

But for me, Barack Obama is the best choice.

There are a number of reasons I could cite. He has promoted smart policies to address our nation's greatest challenges. He was right on Iraq when so many were wrong. He speaks with an eloquence that most public officials can only dream of and is inspiring millions of Americans to reconnect with politics or connect for the first time. And he can win in November.

These are all true and good reasons, but I also believe Barack Obama is the better choice because of something larger and perhaps more important. Simply put, he has made a call to the better angels of our nature. He is challenging us to lift ourselves out of the ugliness that increasingly consumes Washington, where the heat of your argument counts for more than the light it should bring. He is asking us to stand together as Americans and transcend the traditional lines that have so often divided us by party affiliation, economic status, gender, or race. He is calling on us to rethink our approach to problem solving in the face of the enormous challenges facing our country, like Iraq, economic recession, global warming, record energy prices, and 47 million Americans without health insurance, to name just a few. I believe in his effort to put our country on a new path and want to help him make that happen.

I came to Washington 10 years ago after winning the seat my husband Walter held. In office for a mere 10 months before he died, he had lost none of the idealism and faith in American democracy that propelled his life. Quite frankly, I don't believe he ever would have and I know that I have tried to keep that fire burning. But I'll admit it's hard, when so much of what's going on around you is less about meeting our country's challenges and more about demonizing your political opponents.

Walter once said that "we are strongest as people when we are directed by that which unites us, rather than giving into the fears, suspicions, innuendos and paranoias that divide." For years I have been waiting for a president that speaks to that vision. I believe Barack Obama may very well be that rare leader.

Comments

[duze]

it's amazing how far the Clinton trash compactor will go to get what they want. So called legitimate representatives such as Newt (the toot) G. Sat on Greta (ugly's) show and she couldn't wait to bring up the fact that any representative that supports Obama may have to worry about their next election results. I could just hear the old rusty wheels of the Clinton trash compactor turning.,

Their conversation should have touched on Hillary and Bill's upcoming FRAUD TRIAL.

http://www.lasuperiorcourt.org/civilcasesummary/index.asp

[rainbowblue]

Can one representative give a reason that doesn't include his "great" oratory skills? We are electing the head of the Federal Government, not a cheerleader. The bottom line is that Obama is to the right of Hillary on economics and health care, and voted for the 2005 Cheney energy plan. The only smart thing that his come out his mouth this whole year is his nonsupport for the gas tax holiday (though I have doubts as to his sincerity about it, but I give credit to him). As for Iraq, giving a speech in a district that would have dumped had he gone the other way is not credentials for good policy judgment, just political. This has been said before but let me remind some of you: Obama has done NOTHING in the Senate to end the war. He has voted with Hillary on all the votes, including the appropriation bills.

I think one should outline their support of an elected official through details, not through the love of his ability to hold revival like camapaign events. Hillary has a lot of faults, but she is reliable and has some good ideas (like her economics plan). I end with a request for an Obama supporter to admit that he has faults, I won't even ask for you to list them.

[McFlipFlop1]

On his oratory skills -- clear communication is very important. Or have you enjoyed W's version of communication?

On Iraq, Obama did introduce legislation to end the war in January 2007, the "Iraq War De-Escalation Act'. This answers your incorrect statement that "Obama has done NOTHING in the Senate to end the war."

He is human, so therefore has faults. Admitted.

On energy, you may not know the following. Austin,TX mayor Will Wynn chairs the Energy Committee of the U.S. Conference of Mayors and worked on energy-efficiency grant legislation. "For too long, we've allowed old divisions to hold us back," Wynn said. "Recently, I've had conversations about energy policy with presidential candidates from both parties, and I believe Sen. Obama is the only person who can move us forward on this critical issue."

[Fotios]

I agree that Hillary has a lot of faults, and is re-LIE-able. And Barack has faults.

However, Hillary is done. She can't catch up and the super delegates can't take the election away from the popular vote or delegate lead. However, I want you all to feel better about Hillary being a loser, so here is a short youtube story to help:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLp2AYGlrFY

[KillTheMessenger]

You are electing the head of state. The president represents you internationally. Can you even imagine what the rest of the world thinks when they hear a bumbling George W. Bush give a talk? I can assure you, respect for America it ain't. No amount of military power projection can make up for that. Mr. Obama is the ONLY candidate who has the skills to actually represent this country in a way that will change the world's perception to the better. While most of the rest of the world was quite sympathetic with President Clinton during the L-affair, they will not be with Mrs. Clinton after her Bosnia debacle. People of significant intelligence remember these things and that is exactly who the foreign heads of state are.

[abigail1]

Thank you.

[Dotsie]

Let's hope that the remaining superdelegates read Mrs. Capps statement and help make Barack Obama our next president. Her endorsement is so heartfelt and expresses the belief so many of us have that Barack Obama is a special leader that will be one of the greatest presidents to serve our country.

[athena3]

Lois Capps is as big a disappointment with this decision as she is as a representative in our District. She needs to be replaced.

[ChimpNchief]

Little child, your candidate, Billary has lost. It's time to come to grips with reality and quit blaming the world. Clinton did this to herself. I am from Arkansas. I have supported Bill and Hillary through thick and thin. Obama is by far the better candidate. Hillary totally screwed up her own campaign by thinking she had it made. Ego brought her down.

GET OVER IT!

[jupitor]

the woman speaks elegantly athena3. You should be proud she put so much thought into who she choose! It is her choice after all, not yours! She did not have to extend her kindness her to explain her choices to you and others! but she stood proud, and made it clear, with good judgement and for thought upon her convictions! She sounds like a person I would like to know better. Some one with a kind heart and a hope for a new beginning for america after the terrible bush years! She see's something special in obama that millions have seen! She's not alone in that vision accross this land. We can only hope now that for once the millions who raised their voice for change will not be beaten down and have this election stolen from the american people once again!

[airboy]

Thank you, Lois! As constituents and long-time supporters, we now love you even *more* madly!

[indieminded]

Congresswoman, your endorsement here was eloquent and insightful. Your husband, Walter's words rang of deep truths that illustrate why, I believe, so many support Senator Obama.

Thank you for your many years of public service. The people of California are lucky to have you as their voice in Congress.

[obamanation31]

Thank you a million times.

[JamesSB]

Thank you Congresswoman Capps. I have voted for you twice, heard you speak at anti-war rallies, one of them at Arlington West. I know Santa Barbarans are very proud of you today. Much thanks.

[becky]

Hillary Clinton is without question the best candidate for President of the United States.
She is smart, strong, knowledgeable about all aspect of both foreign and domestic issues.
She will do an amazing job bringing our country back to greatness.

[KillTheMessenger]

That's what I thought, too. But when I look at her now I see a fantasy in body armor running across a flight field in Bosnia. Look, Becky, a lie is a lie is a lie. And it is not her first. It won't be her last. But it was probably her worst. It is not good enough any more to replace a mentally handicapped president with a poor liar. We need to do better. The Clintons had their chances. More than once.They blew them all. That's sad, but sometimes reality is sad. Time to stop dreaming about what could have been. It won't be any more.

[nunzia]

"blew them all"!

Not exactly an accurate description of the 8 years of peace and prosperity
America experienced during the Clinton presidency.

[RThM]

Would have. Could have. Should have. In the end, CLINTON lacks the ONE essential quality of a leader. She's simply NOT a leader. She might be a competent bureaucrat, but she's not a capable of inspiration. Bureaucrats merely self-propagate but they don't do amazing jobs. They don't realy bring anything except their own lunches in brown paper bags. After the Bush mess, America needs a leader but that's exactly what SHE'S NOT. And Obama is.

[Janney]

Becky, you must be kidding. Do you think the American people want another Bush? Someone that lies and panders for their own benefit? She does NOT have experience in foreign and domestic issues. Bill does, not her! Oh yes, she is counting on Bill being co-president-that is rediculous and insane. I do not want those two in the White house ever again! They can pack and go home-Barack has won this contest already.

[BOBZILLA]

"Do you think the American people want another Bush? "

Tragically, and based on the obsession with Rev. Wright, they don't seem to care.

[BillyT]

Smart enough to vote for Iraq??

Strong enough to whine "the boys are ganging up on me again, Geraldine and Bill...."

Knowledgeable enough to pocket $110 million will Bill Clinton for selling US jobs out to China, Colombia, and Dubai? And "donating" to "William J. Clinton Foundation" and calling THAT charitable donations for tax credit when that foundation has held onto 1/2 of its money??

Amazing enough to care only about herself that she doesn't mind dragging down the Dem Party even when there's NO CHANCE IN HILL she will win?

This is YOUR CANDIDATE. CONGRATULATIONS, BUFFOON.

[bubbainca]

Maybe in 2016. It's over for her this time.

[Lynnette125]

Thanks for an impressive endorsement. I, also, want so much to see Barack Obama as my President. Hillary Clinton's candidacy has been very disturbing. Clearly, she is another Joe Lieberman---she is willing to call herself a Democrat, yet vote mostly with the Republicans. This campaign is really about the split within the Democratic Party that Bill Clinton created.......the "blue dog", triangulating, DLC Republican-lite Dems vs. the "yellow dog", Republican opposing Dems. The yellow dogs Democrats need to fight to the death.

[cherrycola]

Joe Lieberman was Obama's mentor.
Just sayin'. . .

[McFlipFlop1]

Debunked.

"Editorial note: I have yet in ALL of my research or that of our website team to find a single comment by Senator Obama that he considers Joe Lieberman a "mentor". IF he ever was a mentor, perhaps it was when Senator Obama arrived in Washington as a brand new Senator and wanted to find the bathroom?"

http://citizensforbarackobama.blogspot.com/2007/01/debunking-myth-lieberman-not-mentor.html

[Sneakerface]

Way to destroy your own credibility, cherrycola. Whenever we see a post with the name cherrycola, we can say "this is coming from the person who thought Joe Lieberman was Obama's mentor."

[jellinda]

Thanks, Lois Capps for explaining your reasons for choosing Barack Obama. Ultimately, it is a compliment to you, to have courageously made a choice that was difficult for you. To have accused you of being swayed by your family, instead of your personal conscience, is incredibly insulting. Please, folks, this is an intelligent person trying to explain her choices in life. Don't belittle her; if this country has any chance of succeeding in the future, we need to be kind to one another. I happen to feel the same way, but I would have to reconcile my dislike for Hillary Clinton if it came to that, too. Let's be kind - we're all Americans trying to find our way to a better day.

[Msohio]

What qualities has Hillary displayed? She is a back stabbing witch. When some of us were sending in money to create MoveOn because we believed her statements about the extreme right wing conspirators being out to impeach her husband and to get her, she must have been calling us all fools. Now she skins and grins with those conspirators. Liar, Hillary!!!

[vanessa04]

With all due respect, Congresswoman, it is because Senator Obama and his campaign have failed to display any of the qualities you enumerated, that I cannot support him.

You need only read the posts on this site, to see that appealing to the better angels of our nature has spectacularly failed to inspire his supporters.

[sickofhypocrisy]

amen, sister. amen.

[Dvmx]

I totally disagree with your comment Vanessa04, and frankly, I doubt you are expressing an honest opinion of your own, because it is so far from the reality; smells like deep spin to me.
Obama does appeal to our better natures, always did, and still is. If you are deaf to that, I'm sorry for you.

[nunzia]

Dvmx - typical Obama supporter at this site.
Proves Vanessa04's point while trying to dispute it!

[RanTheMan]

I have been posting on this blog since June '05, shortly after it came online for the first time. And the innuendos and outright lies promulgated by Hillary supporters here of late, are identical in purpose to those put forth by Republican posters that have, for the past few years, defended Bush and his policies.

As late as January, while an Obama supporter, I was still defending Hillary to the more caustic posters here, and writing about how much I admired her.

But when the Hillary camp began their "kitchen sink" smear campaign, the Hillary supporters followed suit and began attacking Obama and his supporters with vitriol previously unseen here from our fellow Democrats.

What happens on these threads will no more translate to the real world once Obama is POTUS than any others would. This is a political opinion blog. NOT life.

Yes, you need only read the posts of Hillary supporters AND the words of Hillary herself continuing to pound repeatedly debunked insinuations to recognize the character issues that should be in question.

It may be an overused term these days, but it's a damned shame that "scorched earth" has become so frequently used to describe the Clinton camp's strategy.

[RThM]

I do think you've hit on something important: "...identical in purpose to those put forth by Republican posters." I would add that it seems to me there are just too many "Obama is doo-doo" posts with lame attempts at support other than the circular argument that "Obama is doo-doo." I suspect that many serious Clinton-only supporters have fallen away simply because she's lost. And they know it. Many thinking Democrats have also possibly silently switched gears to Obama because they realize he will win in the fall and they'd rather have him in the Whitehouse than McCain cum Bush. There's no longer an argument on issues, so why bother. Those that do bother are, indeed, mostly parroting talking points. And a large remainder left around, those that are "...identical in purpose to...Republican posters" are probably just Republican trolls from the fringe.

[becky]

I agree with you vanessa04. Obama supporters are hateful. But I am seeing more Hillary supporters coming and fighting back. This is awesome to see.

The Obama supporters are having a hard time dealing with it.

[KillTheMessenger]

Keep up the good work, Becky. If you believe in it hard enough, it will happen.

[jupitor]

I went on that Hillary sight and couldn't figure out why they had a picture of her on their as a young women! That is just real strange, givern the fact she's 60 years old! does she have a thing about her age, and scared to show a true picture of herself? any way it's not a real news sight, with articles! It's just a trash an blow sight where people can more or less live in their fantasy, like apparently Hillary does given the fact the only picture of her when you intet the sight is when she was young and pretty! But it is a fantasy, one we'd all like to be in if we didn't have to work in an face the real world around us.

[McFlipFlop1]

I went to the hillaryis44.com site for the first time today. Here is what I saw on the front page:

"The B.O. stink is spreading to yet other Democrats in other races."

This is the kind of vile language that has pushed many of us Obama supporters to the edge. I am willing to fight for my candidate, and I will not tolerate slander, false accusations, or racist speech against him. I will fight with my words, and I think it is actually necessary that some of us Obama supporters do so. Obama's hands are somewhat tied in what he can say to and about Clinton, since she is the wife of a former POTUS, a leader in the Democratic party, and a female.

[sementchicken]

You've got thin-skin. The GOP doesn't. BEWARE. VOTE HILLARY!

[ChimpNchief]

From Politico:

Members of the Democratic National Committee itself represents the largest bloc of delegates who have not yet committed to a candidate.

Why is this a problem for Clinton? Because more than anybody, DNC members know that the popular vote doesn’t count, even though Clinton says it does.

The DNC made the current rules. If it had wanted a national primary, a day on which all Democrats across the land would vote and choose the nominee it would have created such a system.

But the DNC created a different system, one in which pledged delegates and superdelegates get to select the nominee.

Could you then convince them that counting Michigan and Florida makes sense?

No way. For starters, the DNC is the group that declared Michigan and Florida rogue states in the first place. Do you really think the DNC is now likely to accept the popular vote count from those states?

Second, to make Clinton’s popular vote fantasy work, you have to throw out the votes in legitimate caucus states such as Iowa. The DNC turns its back on Iowa? As if.

Will the DNC really overturn the choice of the pledged delegates and substitute Clinton as the nominee over Obama?

I doubt it. First and foremost, DNC members care about the party and its future. So ask yourself: Is the DNC going to shatter the party by telling black voters and young voters that their votes in legitimate primaries and caucuses do not count?