Good morning everyone! This has been a tough week for us all with the news of Grandma Dunham, so I'm going to do my best to make everyone smile with this diary at least once. It may be Saturday, but that doesn't mean we couldn't all use a little hope and inspiration.
First up, there's a new 2-minute Obama ad where he once again talks directly to the American people. Full transcript past the jump.
Transcript of ad:
BARACK SYNC: At this defining moment in our history, the question is not, "are you better off than you were four years ago?" We all know the answer to that. The real question is will our country be better off four years from now? How will we lift our economy and restore America's place in the world?
Here's what I'll do as President. To deal with our current emergency...
BARACK SYNCH: I'll launch a rescue plan for the middle class...
BARACK SYNC: That begins with a tax cut for ninety-five percent of working Americans.
If you have a job, pay taxes and make less than two hundred thousand dollars-a-year, you'll get a tax cut.
I'll end the tax breaks for companies that ship our jobs overseas, and give them to companies that create jobs here in America.
And I'll make low-cost loans available to small businesses.
To build our economy for the future, I'll focus on our urgent national priorities: reducing the cost of health care... breaking our dependence on foreign oil... and making sure that every child gets the education they need to compete.
How will I pay for these priorities? First, we've got to stop spending ten billion dollars a month in Iraq – while they run up a surplus. I'll end this war responsibly, so we can invest here at home.
We'll monitor the Wall Street rescue plan carefully, making sure taxpayers are protected and CEOs don't game the system.
I'll let the temporary Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest 2% expire and close the corporate tax loopholes the lobbyists put in.
I'll order a top-to-bottom audit of government spending and eliminate programs that don't work.
We face real challenges, and they won't be easy to solve. But we can do it if we end the mindless partisanship...the divisiveness, curb special interest power and restore our sense of common purpose.
BARACK SYNC: I'm Barack Obama. I approve this message and ask for your vote because if we stand together, we can meet our challenges and ensure that there are better days ahead.
Michelle did this weeks Democratic Address, Listen to it here, full transcript below:
Good morning. I'm Michelle Obama.
Nine days from now, millions of folks across this great country will head into the voting booth and cast their ballot for the next President of the United States.
When I do, I'll of course be thinking about my husband, Barack.
But I'll also be thinking about my dad. He was my rock. He was a blue-collar city worker who never missed a shift in hopes that he could give my brother and me a better life.
He was also a precinct captain who believed that the right to vote was one of the most precious gifts of our democracy. Some of my earliest memories are of tagging along with him as we'd walk door to door and help folks register to vote. We'd sit in neighbors' kitchens for hours and listen to their opinions, their concerns, and the dreams they had for their children.
And before we left those kitchens, my father would make sure that everyone could get to the voting booth on Election Day – because he knew that a single vote could help make their dreams a reality.
That's the opportunity you have in just nine days. November 4th is our chance to begin building a better future for our families, our communities, and this country that we love.
Each of us has our own reason for voting.
I'm a wife who believes with all my heart that my husband will be an extraordinary president.
I'm a Mom whose girls are the center of my world – they are the first thing I think about when I wake up in the morning, and the last thing I think about when I go to bed at night. Their future, and all our children's future, is my stake in this election.
And that's why, for me, the issues the heart of this election aren't just political. They're personal.
I know they are for you, too.
Maybe you're a student who wonders if you'll be able to pay off your loans or find a good job after you graduate.
Maybe you're a small business owner unsure of whether you can pay your employees next month.
Maybe you're a mother who puts off taking your child to the doctor because you can't afford the co-pay.
So we all have a choice to make. And when you look at the issues, and the candidates, and their plans for our future – the choice is clear.
There's only one candidate in this race who can bring about the change we need, restore our economy, and rebuild our middle class.
That candidate is Barack Obama.
His leadership and his policies are the change we need in the White House. But first, we've got to send him there.
That's why your vote is so important. Because if you don't vote, you are saying that you're fine with the way things are. You cast an equally powerful ballot for four more years that look just like the last eight.
In 2004, 16 million Americans who could have voted didn't. Yet, the election was decided by just 59,000 votes in Ohio.
This time, we can't wake up November 5th only to discover we fell just short and didn't elect Barack Obama and Joe Biden. We can't look back and think about what might have been.
So visit your neighbors. Listen to their concerns. Tell them what's at stake. Then take them with you to vote.
In most states, you can vote early and avoid long lines on Election Day. To find the early vote location most convenient for you, go to VoteForChange.com, and then go vote today.
If you do, we will win this election. We'll put Barack Obama in the White House. And we will change this country and fulfill the hopes of all those like my father, who work so hard to give their children a better future and guarantee that the American Dream endures.
I'm Michelle Obama. Thank you for listening, and I hope you and your families have a great weekend.
I got this email yesterday, and it made me smile:
"Upon arriving at the Hamilton County Board of Elections in Cincinnati to vote early today I happened upon some friends of my mother's -- three small, elderly Jewish women. They were quite upset as they were being refused admitance to the polling location due to their Obama T-Shirts, hats and buttons. Apparently you cannot wear Obama/McCain gear into polling locations here in Ohio.... They were practically on the verge of tears.
After a minute or two of this a huge man (6'5", 300 lbs easy) wearing a Dale Earnhardt jacket and Bengal's baseball cap left the voting line, came up to us and introduced himself as Mike. He told us he had overheard our conversation and asked if the ladies would like to borrow his jacket to put over their t-shirts so they could go in and vote. The ladies quickly agreed. As long as I live I will never forget the image of these 80-plus-year-old Jewish ladies walking into the polling location wearing a huge Dale Earnhardt racing jacket that came over their hands and down to their knees!
Mike patiently waited for each woman to cast their vote, accepted their many thanks and then got back in line (I saved him a place while he was helping out the ladies). When Mike got back in line I asked him if he was an Obama supporter. He said that he was not, but that he couldn't stand to see those ladies so upset. I thanked him for being a gentleman in a time of bitter partisanship and wished him well.
After I voted I walked out to the street to find my mother's friends surrouding our new friend Mike -- they were laughing and having a great time. I joined them and soon learned that Mike had changed his mind in the polling booth and ended up voting for Obama. When I asked him why he changed his mind at the last minute, he explained that while he was waiting for his jacket he got into a conversation with one of the ladies who had explained how the Jewish community, and she, had worked side by side with the black community during the civil rights movements of the '60s, and that this vote was the culmination of those personal and community efforts so many years ago. That this election for her was more than just a vote ... but a chance at history.
Mike looked at me and said, "Obama's going to win, and I didn't want to tell my grandchildren some day that I had an opportunity to vote for the first black president, but I missed my chance at history and voted for the other guy."
Remember the "Wassup" guys from the Budweiser Superbowl Commercial? Well the last 8 years haven't been good to them either:
Michelle was holding it down for Barack in Ohio yesterday:
She did great, in some ways she stumps better than Barack. I caught her speech in Columbus live on CNN.com and she clearly loves the "OH-IO" chant. ~lol~ God knew what he was doing when he sent Barack to that firm where he met Michelle, she's his best and probably most effective surrogate.
Here are the campaign's photos of Michelle's events:
Here is is phonebanking:
This woman had gone blind, her husband had left her, and her son had gone off to war. And she was praying for Barack's grandmother. That's America.
Joe Biden working for the vote in Virginia:
Still haven't smiled? Looks like I have to go into the Archives and pull out the big guns. . .
Links to this week's Hope Diaries:
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Also, I'll have the feed up for the rallies today, so check back!
Don't forget to DONATE, VOLUNTEER, and VOTE EARLY!!!