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

[UltraClassic]

Hillary '08

Better angels my a$$! Birds of a feather flock together. Wright? Ayers? And not telling who else is going to pop up in this guys collection.

Hillary '08

[clevelandtocali]

Yup, cause HRC runs with just the BEST America has to offer...

Libermann
Penn
McAullife
Tsu
and now...O'Reilly

What a quality group of people she has for friends

[IowaKid]

You forgot Limbaugh.

[VisiteDeVoltaire]

If she wants to play that game, don't forget Rupert Murdoch and Richard Mellon Scaife.

[gregjones]

Google: Hillary and The Family....

[VisiteDeVoltaire]

I always thought guilt by association was Un-American. At least that what I was taught by my schools, my church and by my parents. It always seemed to me that only people who lacked legitimate arguments used it. Totalitarian governments were always fond of it, but Americans always seemed to shy away from it. It's easy to see why since the NeoCons, such as the Bushes and Clintons, began using the tactic.

[katefranklin]

The Clintons have their share of questionable alliances (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_pardoned_by_Bill_Clinton). Not to mention the yet-to-be-released list of donors to the Clinton Library ...

[Bullyness]

Ugh ultraclassic, Next you'll be clubbing baby seals. So you mean to tell me you've never hoped for anything better in you're life? You my friend are a hater. Open your black heart, take a trip to the park and watch some children, do something for yourself before you are consumed by your own cynical poison.

[KillTheMessenger]

Ultraclassic, why would anybody vote for a candidate whose most vocal followers sound like a Rove/Chenney duet? If you learn to tone your posts down and actually have something constructive to say, you might actually get through with whatever message you have. As it is, a lot of the pro-Hillary comments are just aimless rants. And if you don't want to vote for Obama, fine. That's your RIGHT. We just have to live with that and see where the chips fall.

[gregjones]

HERE THEY COME !!!!!!!!!!! Special thanks to CNN, Fox News, especially Hannity, Joe Scarborough, Pat Buchanan, Laura Ingraham, Flush Limbaugh, and the gang for running the Rev. Wright story totally in the ground. Now that the whole Wright issue has been settled, all superdelegates can now come to Obama's side without fear that the Wright ordeal will be an issue in the GE. When the GOP brings it up in the general....it will be old news. THANKS MEDIA ! (can you say.....back-fired!)

FIRED UP....READY TO GO !!!!!!!!!!

Greg Jones
www.Blacks4Barack.org
(A Multi-Racial, Grassroots Org...Dedicated To Truth)

[halyscomet]

Rep. Capp,

Thank you for such a powerful and moving endorsement.

A Texan and American

[larud9233]

I am undecided. You have failed to mention anything Barak has done to prove that he can do what he says he wants to do. I'm sorry, a speech against the war when he was running for office is not sufficient for me. If judgement is a question, I am worried that his judgement of pastor, may have also been a mistake. Please give me concrete examples of him crossing the over to the Republicans during his time in the senate? I ahve read both of his books and still do not see one concrete exapmple of his having done something, not said it, done it. I am worried that he is a really smart, cool professor which is not the same as legislator or leader. Have you seen "the candidate"?

[CapitalistRebel]

See Colburn/Obama and Luger/Obama for two great examples of bills he co-authored with conservative Republicans. If you bothered to do research, you'd find examples like this relatively easily.

[gregjones]

I appreciate your indecision......but are you really thinking that America should be run by someone who imagines running from sniper fire with her daughter in Bosnia?????????

[DHubble]

why don't you stop depending on the tv to tell you and do some research, larud9233. Search the web that discusses his relationship with republicans while he worked in the Illinois State Senate. While you are at it, consider Hillary's position on the emperial presidency... she's for the line item veto. She is certainly liberal friendly, but while her policy's are different, her understanding of the executive branch is no different to GW Bush when it comes to Process.. or specifically, how she goes about getting work done. Her answer is fight the opposition, and mark my words, she'll continue to the process of executive signing statements with Bills that come across her desk. She is lives and breathes th Unitary Executive Theory... you want some concrete answers? look this info up, and you will see. Obama and Clinton are similar in policy, but completely different in process. And this is the tenor of Rep Capp's message.

[oceanlover]

DHubble - If you want to talk about relationships, let us talk about Obama's long term (20 years) relationship with Rev. Wright. Okay? That's enough reason for plenty of would be supporters to run for the hills. Now that's one relationship that is downright, seriously problematic. Kerry and the lot would love for folks to forget that relationship but fast. Tues. is fast approaching and Obama's polls are sinking fast.

[larud9233]

HUB, I DONT DEPEND ON TV. WHY SO STRIDENT. IF YOU ARE PRO OBAMA ACT IN ACCORDANCE ETHOS.

[gdogs]

Rep Capps,

How do you explain this? Or does is just not matter? So much for full disclosure

"just as Obama press secretary Bill Burton sent out a statement announcing the support of Rep. Lois Capps. The statement didn't mention the personal connection - Capps is Burton's mother-in-law"

excerpt from an AP story posted today.

[KBAR]

What! And leave the 'high' road? Why then she'd then be just another Obamamama.

[Sabreen60]

Really pathetic. I thinks someone else said SO!!!!!! Nice try though. What else have you got.

[gdogs]

Her daughter is married to Obama's press secretary! I'm sorry, but do you really not believe that this is a relative fact regarding her endorsement?

[Erdgeist]

Bravo! True change also means a change from the politics and campaigns of division. I am just sick and tired of the dispiriting negativity that is in politics, presently. We do have to commune with our higher Angels or we will surely lose our way.

[josephjsalas]

OK OK--I admit it! It's largely about where Bush & Cheyney got some of their powers/ideas.
Warrantless Wiretapping

There is a problem, of course, with the power that the president desires: it is precisely the sort of unchecked power that the Fourth Amendment's warrant clause was designed to curb. As the Supreme Court noted in Katz v. United States (1967), the judicial procedure of antecedent justification before a neutral magistrate is a "constitutional precondition," not only to the search of a home, but also to eavesdropping on private conversations within the home. [69]

President Clinton also lobbied for and signed the Orwellian Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, which is forcing every telephone company in America to retrofit its phone lines and networks so that they will be more accessible to police wiretaps. [70] The cost of that makeover is expected to be several billion dollars. Any communications carrier that fails to meet the technology standards of the attorney general can be fined up to $10,000 per day. The passage of that law prompted Attorney General Reno to marvel at her newly acquired power: "I don't think J. Edgar Hoover would contemplate what we can do today." [71] That is unfortunately true. In the past, law enforcement had to rely on the goodwill and voluntary cooperation of the American people for investigative assistance. That tradition is giving way to a regime of coercive mandates. [72]


And notice the term (ROV)ing.

[DHubble]

Unitary Exeutive Theory. Hillary will follow this course. Bill did to a certain extent, GW ran away with it... and now more than any time since Nixon, and really, since the signing of our Constitution, the President has near-supreme powers. This is not some conspiracy mumbo-jumbo its the process stuff that has allowed the Bush administration to get away with so many horrible things... torture, wire tapping, et all. Obama by very temperment rejects this view. He TAUGHT Constitutional Law. He understands the nature and original intent of the Executive Branch as it was intended by our founding fathers. He will not only restore the dignity of the Executive Branch, but his style will restore the power and dignity of the Legistative Branch as well.

[DocJerome]

In the midst of all these media circus distractions, there are still many that don't get caught up in the onslaught of negativity and recognize who is best for this country. There it is.

[Bocababs]

A big thanks to Rep. Capps from So. Florida today!!

[MPeter]

Thank you Congresswoman. Thank you for a beautiful and timely endorsement. We too believe in idealism; the kind your late husband and now, Senator Obama offers us. Thank you.

[booksnmore4you]

Wow, very well said.

[HenkC]

I couldn't agree with you more. It is about standing for something instead of against something. I get the sense that many people support McCain and Hillary because they don’t like the other option. Does that say something about them? That they are more driven by dislike and hatred than an actual position? Maybe it is because they feel they have no option. There is no alternative for them. But it is sad though. Sad that they can’t mobilize around anything other than what they are against. I hear many Republicans say, “McCain. I hate him, but he is better than the other two.” Sad. Just sad. http://angryafrican.net/2008/04/30/stand-up-for-it/
Isn’t this the time when people are supposed to say what they stand for? And America vote for what they want to be? Maybe people should start thinking about what they stand for. A very novel idea. Supporting someone for what they stand for. Mmmm. Think about it for a minute. Supporting someone for what they stand for. And not because you don’t like the other options. Supporting something because of what it means. Something positive. Not hatred of the other, but belief in this one.

[Countdown09]

Rep. Capps, thanks to your endorsement I feel we are one step closer to what you, your husband and many Americans feel we have a chance to regain with Sen. Obama's leadership -- idealism and faith in American democracy! All the best.

[zenobiadarcy]

Your endorsement of Senator Obama and your reasons were exactly why I have been a supporter without any doubts at any time during his campaign. If anything I have more respect for Senator Obama.Thank you.

[Obama2008]

What a great endorsement. Thank you Rep. Capps. I agree completely that he speaks to our better angels and I am looking forward to an administration that does not believe it needs to be the bully of the world. I want a president who doesn't automatically resort to a military solution to any and all conflicts that arise.

Your support is greatly appreciated!

[voteobama2008]

Thank you!!! I am cheering for the Obama movement!!!