January 4, 2008 at 15:53:00

Obamism: The Politics of Hope in the Year of the Political Independent

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By Brent Budowsky (about the author) Page 1 of 1 page(s)

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For OpEdNews: Brent Budowsky - Writer

Something great is happening in America and for today, after Iowa, we can call it “Obamism,” though it involves movements of history, people and ideas that come in many flavors and are offered by many voices, whose torch may or may not ultimately be carried by Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.).

The real America is back again, rising above the overwhelming negativities of the Bush years and the suffocating banalities of the chattering insider classes who were wrong, yet again, as usual, about Iowa because they are so wrapped up in their insider interests and cocoons that they miss what is happening in the real America.

If there is one proposition I have argued for in my writings over the last two years and my private advice to senior Democrats and the occasional senior Republican, it is this:

Americans will be astonished and amazed at the outpouring of idealism, inspiration, hope and good will that will flow like a mighty river when the Age of Bush is finally ended.

The next great historic political realignment is at hand, comparable to the Democratic realignment brought by Franklin Roosevelt and the Republican realignment brought by Ronald Reagan.

This historic third wave realignment combines:

* the aspirations of progressive Democrats who believe in a party that opposes wrong with courage and principle, and dreams great dreams of what is possible in America,

with

* the huge American center of political independents who want a national unity based on a return to the first principles of Americanism that have been far too often abandoned in the extremism, corruption and radical rightism that will be known by historians as the dark interlude of the Bush Years.

This fundamental and historic realignment includes 98 percent of authentic Democrats, who believe in the traditions of Roosevelt and Kennedy, and more than 70 percent of political independents who will join together in a great movement and new electoral map for renewal and change that is hopefully destined to elect a new president and Congress…

originally published on thehill, here:

Obamism: The Politics of Hope in the Year of the Political Independent

Brent Budowsky is a regular columnist on thehill.com. He served as Legislative Assistant to U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen, responsible for commerce and intelligence matters, including one (more...)

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2 comments

DanielleClarke

OPEN GOVERNMENT FOR WE THE PEOPLE

"USAspending.gov Barack Obama's New Gov Site + His reform track record + Best Of Obama's Transparent Gov Bills" http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/danielleclarke/CB44

Today Dec 13th 2007 witnessed the launch of USAspending.gov,= http://www.usaspending.gov/

which was created by the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act = http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Funding_Accountability_and_Transparency_Act_of_2006

by Tom Coburn and Barack Obama. The site enables tracking of $1 trillion in federal spending on contracts, grants, earmarks, and loans. The bill faced serious opposition, including anonymous holds by some of the biggest porkbarrel spenders (including Ted Stevens), but in the end, Coburn and Obama prevailed.

So what kind of data does this site give us? Well, how about the top 100 recipients of federal money, = http://www.usaspending.gov/fpds/tables.php?tabtype=t2&subtype=t&year=2007

or say which congresspeople rake in the most pork. = http://www.usaspending.gov/fpds/tables.php?tabtype=t1&subtype=at&rowtype=d
And that's just scratching the surface.
And, to my surprise (especially for a government site), an API is available = http://www.usaspending.gov/apidoc.php
to make it easy to extract data.

Read on for more examples and some implications.
USAspending.gov and Obama's reform track record = http://www.onemillionstrong.us/showDiary.do?diaryId=431
The site is clearly a treasure trove of data and is a huge step forward towards government accountability. What's also nice is how user friendly it is.

Let's look at a few examples of what we can dig up.

Example 1: The list of transactions with KBR, Inc. (formerly part of Halliburton) in 2007 = http://tinyurl.com/27xroh . This came out to a paltry sum of $2.7 billion dollars (so far this year), which is nothing compared to previous years as the bar graph on the summary page = http://tinyurl.com/yq39cq shows

Example 2: No bid contracts are among the darkest corners of federal spending - the lack of competition in these contracts is in large part what leads to overcharging by contractors and waste of taxpayer dollars. Well, there was $30 billion in no-bid contracts in 2007 = http://tinyurl.com/2x2225 , including money to some companies I had never heard of, including $1.2 billion to Armor Holdings, Inc. = http://tinyurl.com/248loz and, strangely, $163 million to the government of Canada. = http://tinyurl.com/28amw3

There are a million more examples, and I'm really looking forward to seeing them in the coming weeks and months.

I'm very happy to see another positive step towards government transparency, something that Sen. Obama has been a leader in.

I have one challenge to everyone - find one interesting, strange, or otherwise noteworthy pieces of spending using the site.

Republicans wanted Hillary because if she won or a republican won the powers to be would still be able to keep their war mongering agenda.

Obama will give the power back to the people as he has done with the transparency bill to expose lobbyist donations and the www.USAspending.gov site to expose all government contracts and the NEW SUNSHINE BILL to force polticians to expose their earmarks BEFORE THEY CAN BE VOTED ON

Hillary is a neocon republican disguised as a dem and they want her not Obama and so you shall see in the final republican democratic debates that he will expose them for what they are... however, huckabee is the only one with Ron paul who may be able to even come up to level with Barack Obama.

by DanielleClarke (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 18 comments) on Saturday, Jan 5, 2008 at 8:41:09 AM

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RICHARD SHADE

WHO WAS THE FRIST CANDIDATE TO

OPEN UP AMERICA'S EYES TO THE FACT THAT THIS IS WRONG WHAT IS HAPPENING IN OUR GOVERNMENT, RON PAUL HE HAS CHANGED THE TIDE FOR THE AMERCAN PEOPLE, HE MAY NOT WIN, BUT HE GOT THE MESAGE OUT LOUD AND CLEAR WE NEED A CHANGE. AND EVEN IF YOU DON'T VOTE FOR RON PAUL, AMERICA SHOULD SAY THANK YOU RON PAUL FOR GIVEN US HOPE FOR CHANGE. RON HAS SHOWEN THE AMERICAN PEOPLE OUR NEXT PRESIDENT SHOULD BE THERE FOR LOVE OF COUNTRY, FAMILY, AND THE PEOPLE, AND NOT FOR POWER AND GREED. 2008 ELECTION IS GOING TO BE THE TURNING POINT IN HISTORY OF THIS GREAT 220 YEAR OLD CONSTITUTIONAL REPUBLIC. AND MOST LIKELY ALL HUMANITY.

THANKS RON PAUL GODS SPEED

by RICHARD SHADE (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 460 comments) on Sunday, Jan 6, 2008 at 5:53:39 AM

(0+)