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Obama Four Years Later: Are You In?

10744076490?profile=originalAre you in? It’s the current battle cry of the 2012 version of the Obama Campaign, and though on its surface, it almost feels like a casual question, it’s rife with much deeper meaning almost three-and-a-half years after the historic election of President Barack Obama.

On its face, and in basic terms, the question says will you volunteer for me again? Will you donate regularly and at the historic levels you did in 2008? But deep down, it forces those of us who worked so hard to support then Senator Obama to ask ourselves, do we still believe in the vision and the man? Can we see Barack Obama’s presidency in its totality and conclude that it has overall been a success, and that his policies and leadership have been better for the country? Despite the historic nature of the election, and the joy we felt as African Americans – has he delivered on the vision of America that he convinced so many of us was possible?

But mostly, the question is an acknowledgement that a lot has changed in four years. The average Obama supporter is no longer in wide-eyed wonderment over the prospects of electing our first black president – four years after history was made, many of us are still grappling with the socio-economic ravages of Bush Administration policies, and confounded over what seems to be President Obama’s commitment to adhering to some of the most unpopular of them – Guantanamo Bay is still open; we’ve expanded what has been a costly presence in Afghanistan under President Obama, and he’s failed up till now to end the Bush-era tax cuts given to the wealthiest Americans and corporations, despite the fact that the nation’s debt and budget deficit continue to skyrocket, and our social safety nets are on the verge of collapse. It’s just a fact – whatever their race, many of the President’s supporters find themselves disappointed in the wake of what have been characterized as broken promises made during the 2008 election, and there are those on the left that have been vocal about their belief that President Obama has given up too much in tough fights with Republicans these last few years.

Even a rabid Obama supporter like me can admit that there have been some disappointing moments in his presidency. I question the wisdom, for example of expending vast amounts of his political capital on waging a long and protracted healthcare reform fight, only to end up with legislation that as of this writing, is being challenged constitutionally before the Supreme Court, legislation that did not go nearly far enough to protect the nation’s citizens in a way that every other industrialized country in the world has been able to. I understood the rationale then, and I understand it now – tackle the sector of our economy that seems most intractable, and that is in the most danger of destroying our nation’s ability to sustain a healthy economy and more importantly, a healthy citizenry for the future – I get it.

The need for reform was even more important in light of the fact that Baby Boomers, who outnumber every other age group in the nation, are approaching retirement, and in danger of completely overwhelming the healthcare system as we know it now if we don’t get costs under control. Again, I get it, and you probably do to. But waging that fight at a time when the country was literally hemorrhaging jobs that have been too slow to come back, and the fact that it all may have been for naught if the Conservatives on the Supreme Court have their way, can’t help but make even the President’s biggest supporters wonder what he and his advisors were thinking.

So it’s 2012, and even I, the original Black Woman for Obama have to ask myself the question: are you in?

It’s not as easy a question for me to answer as it might seem. It’s not just about will I vote for President Obama – of course I will. The question for me and others like me is will I work myself into the ground again to ensure his re-election? As one of the pseudo leaders of the original volunteer corps, will I shut down a large part of my life once more to go out and make sure that as many people in the nation as possible work to get President Obama re-elected, give more blood, sweat, tears, time, and money? Has he earned it?

In my opinion? Yes. Actually, hell yes. And I’ll tell you why. Feel me on this one for a moment.

Several months ago, Melissa Harris-Perry, the brilliant college professor and MSNBC show host did a segment on the Rachel Maddow show called the Tale of Two Michelle’s, where she talked about the disparities inherent in the way the media (at the time) treated Michelle Obama versus how they treated Michelle Bachmann during her failed run for the Republican nomination. It so happens that I have my own two-tales story. I call it – “The Tale of Two Shovels”

The Tale of Two Shovels

So, imagine there’s a job – everyone wants it. And to do this job, you have to be good at doing two things – digging a hole, and filling it back up with dirt – that’s it. Dig the hole and then fill it back up with dirt. The thing is – you have to dig this hole in such a way that the one that comes after you, can always either a) start the digging where you left off or b) begin to fill the hole where you left off. Simple, right?

Now imagine that you get this job – from what you’ve heard, every one of your predecessors, from the beginning of time, has dug the hole, oh, maybe 5, six feet deep, and worked like crazy to fill it back in. You’re not nervous – you know you’re going to have to dig a little, or toss a little dirt in, and you’re up for the task. Well – imagine your surprise, when (upon reporting for duty your first day of work, shovel in hand), you find that the guy that had the job before you, has dug a hole 100 feet deep, and left it for you to fill. Oh – and you have no idea where the dirt is. You still only have 5 feet worth of dirt to fill the hole in with.

In essence – your predecessor has thrown his shovel down, flipped you the bird on the way out, and ran back to his ranch in Texas, I mean, back to wherever he came from, leaving you to deal with the bizarre results of his efforts. And now, not only are your co-workers pressuring you to fill in the hole, those folks who want the job after you are yelling for you to fill the hole. Everyone everywhere wants you to fill in the hole. Fill in the damned hole! Do it now! Yikes.

You try to reason with them – “my predecessor dug a MUCH bigger hole than he should have, a-and there’s no more dirt with which to fill it kind people!”, and they tell you to shut your trap – less yapping, more hole management! Enough about your predecessor, it’s YOUR hole now, and you have to find a way to fill it with dirt. And you better not complain.

Get the picture? President Obama took office at an historic time for America and the world; 700,000 plus jobs were exiting the economy each month; our auto industry was on the verge of collapse, and in danger of taking another one million jobs with it; the financial institutions in this country were disintegrating in the wake of too much greed and too little regulation and because of an expensive and unjust war in Iraq, our reputation around the world was in tatters – when President Obama took the oath of office, he had been left with a very deep hole to fill indeed.

And yet – here we are four years later, arguably through the worst of the last big recession, with an auto industry that’s back on top around the world, and with an economy that has added 200,000 new jobs each of the last three months. This is of course not to say that Americans are no longer feeling the pain of the recession, but it can definitely be argued that as a result of Obama’s leadership and his administration’s policies, a lot of the magical, disappearing dirt has made its way back into the hole. So yes – I’m in. And you should be too.

I believed back in 2008, and I believe now that President Obama is a leader for this time; even as we debate policies, and distill critical issues into 30-second sound bites, there are important realities that we face as a nation, realities that I believe have informed the President’s policies, and which are as important and impactful today as they were then. I call them “the three shuns”:

Globalization. The harsh truth that many don’t want to face is that our ability to conduct commerce across shores easily and seamlessly due to technology means that there are many, many jobs that have left this country that are never coming back. Period. Competing tax rates aside, there are just too many countries with cheap, plentiful labor who are willing and able to do the work Americans used to do, and who can now, thanks to the internet and other communications technologies that make doing business across thousands of miles feel like doing business across the hall.

Education. America is not educating its citizens adequately to compete in the recently mentioned Global Economy. According to a study done by the 2009 Programme for International Student Assessment released in 2010, 15-year-old students in the U.S. perform about average in reading and science, and below average in math. Out of 34 countries, the U.S. ranked 14th in reading, 17th in science and 25th in math. And even as unemployment continues to hover around 8.5 percent, many jobs that require high-tech skills are going unfilled and leaving companies no choice but to look outside our borders for workers they need.

Innovation. In every major recession since recessions have been recorded, it’s taken some major innovation to spur the country back into economic health. The commercialization of the Internet helped fuel economic recovery after the recession of the early 90’s, for example – innovation has facilitated the kind of economic expansion that results in periods of growth that are typically longer than the recession itself. But innovation takes a level of commitment that the nation has lost, and as a result, countries are cleaning our clocks when it comes to keeping up with our infrastructure, and investing in alternate forms of energy.

And I’m convinced that President Obama understands all of this, and that he has tried over the last three-and-a-half years (with debatable success), to manage the country to those realities always, with shovel in hand, trying to restore order to the hole.

And so as I look back on what’s been since my time as an Obama volunteer, and think about what’s to come, I can honestly say that no – this time, there will likely not be the tingles that ran up and down my and Chris Matthews’ legs during the last election; there may not be the adoring, impassioned crowds, the t-shirts and theme songs, or the plentiful celebrity spokespeople. And worst of all, there may not be the fired up, engaged volunteer corps that helped propel the President into office. So that’s where I come in. That’s where Black Women for Obama comes in. It’s our job this time to cut through the rhetoric, and the bias, and to spread the message of his real record – the record that includes passing the Lily Ledbetter Act to give woman equal pay for an equal days work;         a record that includes more financial reforms meant to protect average Americans than anytime in history, and an expansion of environmental policies that rivals any recent President. And a record that shows an ability to go after and defeat our enemies, in ways that actually make us safer as a nation, without all the lip service.

I’m in – I’m still a Black Woman for Obama. I believe in what the next four years will bring, and I believe in the President’s ability to bring it. So I hope you’ll come on in too – the political waters are fine.

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One of our community shared this powerful info. What I appreciate is not only was an marketing issue brought forth but an viable option is presented. click to start your financial legacyDon't Bypass African-AmericansMarketers Make Mistake by Failing to Expressly Target Nearly $1 Trillion MarketBy Marissa MileyPublished: February 02, 2009NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- In 2008, the country's top marketers tapped Barack Obama as Marketer of the Year. Many of those same marketers also cut spending directed at the African-American market.Najoh Tita-ReidWith advertisers chasing after niche markets such as mommy bloggers on tools such as Twitter, a "niche" worth $913 billion would seem the sort of market companies would be stumbling over each other to get to. Yet the African-American market has to continually make the case that it's a segment worth understanding, and one worth a dedicated portion of the ad budget.click to start your financial legacyAfrican-Americans -- and the African-American market -- were surpassed in the past five years by the growing Hispanic sector, leading many marketers and the media to focus intently on the "next big thing" in the minority sector. According to Nielsen, total spending in Spanish-language media in the first three quarters of 2008 was $4.3 billion, up 2.7% from the year before. Total spending on African-American media in that time period was $1.8 billion, down 5.3% from the same period in 2007. (Procter & Gamble was the largest spender in both categories.)click to start your financial legacyBLACK HISTORY MONTHFirst in a seriesStill, the African-American segment has buying power of $913 billion, according to 2008 data from the Selig Center for Economic Growth at the University of Georgia. That's why African-American marketing experts are flummoxed that there is an implied question floating around the C-suites in the U.S.: Why bother targeting the demographic specifically? Sales to be madePutting aside high-minded issues such as diversity and multiculturalism, the simple answer is: to make money."It makes sense to address 40 million people who are African-American if you want to capture their consumer behavior," said Alfred Liggins, president-CEO of Radio One, pointing out that marketers frequently target niche consumer segments such as new moms, outdoor enthusiasts and foodies. "Why is it an issue when you say that black people are a niche?"click to start your financial legacyThe justifications marketers use are many, particularly in a recession: Targeting African-Americans costs too much; it takes dollars away from general marketing; it does not add value. On a recent industry panel, Steve Stoute, founder-CEO of consulting/branding firm Translation, suggested some brands do well with African-Americans precisely because they don't market to the segment and are therefore seen as aspirational. (Mr. Stoute declined to participate in this story.)Another justification: "They speak English, don't they?" mocked Pepper Miller, president of Hunter-Miller Group, an African-American market research and consulting firm. She said marketers typically have this reaction because of the significant growth of the Latino market over the past couple of decades."That growth has become a catalyst for corporate America to embrace language as a cultural identifier, not race," she said. It's easier, she said, to make the case that a group speaking a different language deserves a unique type of marketing.African-Americans, on the other hand, because they share a common language with white America, are assumed to share the same culture and same interests. Why bother with the research and expense when you can just recycle general-market advertising and maybe throw in a couple of black actors?click to start your financial legacy
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In the dictionary definition, democracy "is government by the people in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system." In the phrase of Abraham Lincoln, democracy is a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people."Democracy is supposed to be set of ideas and principles about freedom. We have been told that is consists of a set of practices and procedures that have been set forth by our forefathers consisting of these four basic elements:1. A political system for choosing and replacing the government through free and fair elections.2. The active participation of the people, as citizens, in politics and civic life.3. Protection of the human rights of all citizens.4. A rule of law, in which the laws and procedures apply equally to all citizens.Today we have the opportunity to exercise what we believe as a collective group of citizens.What will we do with this opportunity? We will get drunk and raise the roof, what are we celebrating? It will be time to roll up our proverbial sleeves and improve upon whatever we are doing to be individuals that model the behavior of new president. Let's be sensible and really make a difference.President-Elect Barack Obama has shown us what it takes to fight for what he believes in. He has shown us that he believes in the America we were destined to be. Not just a super-power globally, but a country that takes care of its citizens.Be proud, be happy, be mindful the now the work has just begun.Omitunde, Publisher of African American Family ConnectionAn online magazine about African American Family values and community.Visit AAFC for the latest issue each month and a copy of "The Ripple Effect"
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Why I "Support" Sarah Palin

From One Career Mom To Another, You Go Girl!

The news has been out for over a week now. The shock is starting to wear off. But the insults continue, and I guess that's OK. That's how it is in politics. Yet I feel constrained to put my .02 cents in on the topic of Republican Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin, and not about her politics either. In fact, I know little about her political views except that she's against abortion, that she favors drilling in Alaska and that she doesn't seem to be particularly pro-small business. I don't like that.

Palin_family

Not only that, I think she took lousy, repulsive, cheap, underhanded and unprofessional shots at Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama, in particular by characterizing his community organizing work as anything less than a valuable and noble example of what all Americans should do. I don't like that either.

Having said all that, regardless of our political differences, I have a lot in common with Sarah Palin. We are both married to our high school sweethearts. We are both professional career women. We are both mothers of very young children. We have a loyal group of family members and girlfriends who have our back no matter what we say or do, win or lose.

And we love our families and our careers, and are determined to serve both well, simultaneously, in a world that makes it nearly impossible to do so.

I am weary of the editorials by other mothers criticizing Palin for returning to work 3 days after her child was born. When my first child was born, I scheduled an inducement so I could maintain my business and not miss publication of my weekly newsletter. I took pain killers, did not give birth in a pool and ended up having a Cesarean. And not only that, I gave an interview to a newspaper on a business related topic within 24 hours of giving birth. (Made some money as a result too.) I even gave the reporter my cell phone number so I could call her back quickly if she called while I was delivering my daughter.

Other mothers would not have made the same choices. And I took some heat for my choices, even to the point of being criticized for them on a television show once last year.

And so I support Sarah Palin for doing what she thinks is best for her life, at this time in her life.

At the end of the day, as mothers, that's all we can all do. Instead of criticizing her family choices, let's be collectively grateful that we live in a country where she has them in the first place. That, in America, a married woman can chose to: run for public office, wear whatever clothes she wants, have a career of her own, own businesses in her own name and purchase real estate without her husband's permission.

Sarah, if it was right for you and your family for you to return to work 72 hours after your child was born, then you just go sister. 72 hours after mine was born, I was sitting at my desk revising my website and learning how to breastfeed at the same time. Why? Because I felt my newborn needed the benefits of both my breast milk and my business acumen in order to have the best life possible.

I believe that a rising tide lifts all ships. And regardless of my political views where she's concerned, Sarah Palin's nomination, especially when coupled with how far Hillary Clinton came on the Democratic ticket this year, is a rising tide for women and mothers from all walks of life.

I don't have to agree with another professional mother's choices to celebrate the fact that she has them.

And regardless of the political differences I have with Sarah Palin, I'm going to ride her wave.

What do you think?

Other moms? Dads? Indie Business owners? What do you say?

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