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  • Posted By: GregAugustaGA @ 06/17/2008 2:27:20 PM

    Great Job Mr. Thomas! This "change" message has always been confusing to me as either fake or incredibly naive/idealistic. To truly achieve change the Washington gang would have to relinquist their life blood. That is their sole purpose in life, re-election. Also the overwhelming temptations to line their pockets. Am I naive to think this isn't going to happen?

    • Posted By: barbara474 @ 06/17/2008 2:34:56 PM

      So what is it that YOU believe? Is the status quo of lobbyist and lawyer insiders(who by the way are NOT elected) the answer or the problem? It certainly is the question. Also I think that you meant relinquish.

      • Posted By: GregAugustaGA @ 06/17/2008 3:05:23 PM

        Thanks for correcting the typo. I agree with Mr. Thomas. The kind of changes Obama is espousing are not going to happen. I am not sure what is more firghtening, if he really believes what he is saying or if he is just a liar. Re-election is the full time job of these folks, not the best interests of the country.

        • Posted By: barbara474 @ 06/17/2008 3:24:29 PM

          OK. So what do you BELIEVE in? What are you willing to stand up and be counted for? Mr. Thomas (Eyore as I like to call him) believes that the choice is totally out of our control and in the hands of 'insiders'. Hence the sub-title of "how washington really works". Hence, also, the Eyore moniker. Who is to say what can happen, can ants move mountains? I know that it is better to try than to bemoan the status quo. I ask this, in this forum, because making the best choice possible is all any of us can do.
          What I must speak out against is some big puffed up fish in a little pond(Washington needs to come to grips with the size of pond it really is), playing in their pants and deciding that they make the rules. Most of the 'insiders' are not elected officials just hired guns. Disregard them and you take away their power. Power is truly perceived.

          • Posted By: GregAugustaGA @ 06/17/2008 3:34:11 PM

            The only way is to vote them out. ALL of them. We need to ga back to the days of Citizen Politicians with term limits, not career Professional Politicians. Good people rarely run for office because they can't stand the stench. Thank God lobbyists weren't around when the founders were writing the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.

            • Posted By: barbara474 @ 06/17/2008 4:08:53 PM

              I like your spunk, but disagree on a point. There are good people in office, there can be more as long as we keep our eye on them. Write your representatives when you don't agree with the way they vote.
              Also beware the 'mean old back-up farts' like lobbyists, professional spin-doctors, corporate contributions disguised as PACs and political lawyers (read: other lobbyists). They do more damage than the rats did during the Great Plague. But worry not, what they underestimate in us gives us the upperhand.

              • Posted By: GregAugustaGA @ 06/17/2008 4:19:46 PM

                And Obama will change all of this? He will accomplish what no other politician has in this generation? Obama has not achieved anything except to win election, and he only did that because the Illinois Dems went out of state and brought in Alan Keyes. He served a few years in the Illinois Legislature. He was a community organizer. I organize community BBQ's and charitable events. Does that qualify me to be
                President? I question his qualifications, his honesty and his veracity.

                • Posted By: GregAugustaGA @ 06/17/2008 4:25:03 PM

                  Before you correct me it was the Illinois Republicans after the primary candidate was forced out of the race.

                  • Posted By: hotstuff @ 06/18/2008 6:08:52 PM

                    Greg for Prez! ....................NOT!

                • Posted By: barbara474 @ 06/17/2008 4:39:41 PM

                  You misunderstand me. We, all of us, are making the change right now. Politicians are there to do only what the people want. By being involved in the process, making your pleasures and displeasures known to them. That and the power of the vote. A vote is only a best guess. It is what you do after they get in office that makes a difference. My reps are probably tired of hearing from me, so I think I will double up on the letters and emails for a while. That usually gets some attention. ;>)

      • Posted By: chindognyc @ 06/17/2008 3:10:53 PM

        Does the number 474 means the month and year you were born?

        • Posted By: barbara474 @ 06/17/2008 3:59:29 PM

          No. And I can't tell you any more than that because my husband does not alow me to date> ;>)

          • Posted By: chindognyc @ 06/17/2008 4:13:43 PM

            Hahahaha. good one barbara.

    • Posted By: chindognyc @ 06/17/2008 2:32:38 PM

      I think you are!

      • Posted By: barbara474 @ 06/17/2008 2:43:42 PM

        I have been sitting here wondering what you meant, for it was unclear. So...I'll bite 'you think I am'..what????

        • Posted By: chindognyc @ 06/17/2008 2:52:28 PM

          Not you Barbara, I was talking about Greg. He said to we think he is naive and I said I think you are. I was not talking about you barbara.

          • Posted By: barbara474 @ 06/17/2008 2:57:26 PM

            Not upset, just curious.

  • Posted By: jrysk @ 06/17/2008 2:34:19 PM

    He doesn't think any damned thing, because he's a flunkey of the Rezko/Syrian Mafia/Auchi/General Mediterranean criminal enterprise. And he's raised several hundred million dollars to hire other flunkey such as Axelrod and Plouffe. What you're saying is that Washington is a criminal enterprise. "Perfectly legal"--what nonsense. Haven't you ever heard of an illegal law.

    Let's see what happens when Obama is indicted for his role in the boards legislation. His indictment will contain even more charges than Rezko's.

    And you? Are a blubbering idiot.

    • Posted By: hotstuff @ 06/18/2008 6:05:32 PM

      Only smears and fears!
      Garbage!

    • Posted By: LuLuBelle @ 06/18/2008 2:13:55 AM

      You post is absolutely correct. Obama is more crooked than anybody I have seen in my lifetime.

      • Posted By: hotstuff @ 06/18/2008 6:04:10 PM

        LuLu has NEVER seen anybody in his life.
        Growing up in a lonely cell in a dark cellar isn´t very funny!
        So, how can he reference Obama?

    • Posted By: chindognyc @ 06/17/2008 2:51:20 PM

      Oh my god, you sound like a jerk. You bring up Syria and Rezco, how come Rezco and members from Syria's government are on Bill Clinton's donors list. Explain that smart mouth.

  • Posted By: J.Richter @ 06/18/2008 2:44:13 PM

    Here is a better article on how he is already starting to do this:
    http://jrichter.newsvine.com/_news/2008/06/12/1567632-can-barack-really-deliver-on-his-promises-he-already-started

    And his recent actions regarding the flooding in the midwest compared with Bush's Katrina is not even focused in this article. He brought immediate attention to the issue by goign there, rolling up his sleeves showing seriousness for those thrown out of home and immediately beginning a fund raiser on his site as well as advocating grass roots actions given his current limited powers.

  • Posted By: SPORTLOCK09 @ 06/18/2008 2:17:30 PM

    They were going show Bush in 2006? Are you dumb or stupid? Who here understands what this statement means? Its like reading a post by HANDIMAN

  • Posted By: News and Notes @ 06/17/2008 12:25:41 PM

    Obama is not a well balanced candidate. He has successfully glossed over his lack of national experience by creating the perception that a Washington outsider can change Washington. He strikes me as a liberal, smooth talking G.W. Bush. Same level of arrogance and isolation. Hillary was a much stronger candidate.

    • Posted By: barbara474 @ 06/17/2008 2:08:23 PM

      News and Notes: Yesterdays news. Does not matter who YOU think was a stronger candidate. The people have chosen. Issue over. Move on.

      • Posted By: News and Notes @ 06/17/2008 2:26:38 PM

        I can make a point. What everyone think matters. Convince me Obama is stronger than McCain, rather than insult my intelligence

        • Posted By: barbara474 @ 06/17/2008 2:40:03 PM

          It is neither my place nor my job to convince you of anything. That is your job. One that will be made much harder by holding on to moot points. If you think that there was insult in my comment please let me clarify: Move ON.

          • Posted By: News and Notes @ 06/17/2008 2:51:54 PM

            Wow, an Obama supporter with a superiority complex? Now that is novel

            • Posted By: barbara474 @ 06/17/2008 3:05:10 PM

              A person with a 'superiority complex' would have leapt at the chance to convince you of their point of view. I did not.

              Signing your missives as News and Notes, now there is fertile ground.

              • Posted By: onepoker @ 06/18/2008 1:31:30 PM

                you think your point is so superior you don't have to make it?

              • Posted By: nmcalpine @ 06/17/2008 4:44:53 PM

                Ouch. She sure does have a point though

        • Posted By: EvanG88 @ 06/17/2008 6:19:14 PM

          I'll put it simply, some of our greatest presidents have had as little, or less, experience than Obama. Some of the worst had decades of experience before becoming president. Experience is a flawed metric when taken alone without any other consideration. Actually reading and comparing the plans of each candidate, the irony comes up that Barack has more details and substance than McCain's absolutist hypocritical bull.

      • Posted By: Smithback @ 06/18/2008 12:01:09 PM

        Does it matter now if he thinks McCain is the stronger candidate? Believe me when I tell you, there are many people like N&N that will determine this election.

      • Posted By: aintwegotfun @ 06/17/2008 11:38:51 PM

        Not all the people chose him. The way this Democratic debacle was run, I don't think it was a clean decision.

  • Posted By: Pittsburgh @ 06/18/2008 12:57:55 PM

    What's going to change it? (next to the last line of your article). The very thhing you saw the 20,000 respond to---hope. With hope America can do anything.

  • Posted By: timrogers @ 06/18/2008 12:05:39 PM

    Kind of depressing to agree with you but I do. The Washington ways will not be changed by Obama or anyone else in my lifetime. The system is the problem and the reason the people in it won't and can't change. Fifty states all trying to get more for themselves. Hundreds of representatives eager to make a deal, thousands of businesses willing to pay for influence and favors, and millions of voters fooled by campaign manipulation into thinking they all work for their benefit instead of their own.. Our system is geared to self destruction as we head to third world status. The other peoples money being transferred by Washington so rapidly to multi national corporations and foreign governments has already changed the balance of power in the world. For America , globalization equals mounting debt and more weakness. I know this comment is the equivalent of standing on a street corner with an " end is near sign". The cocktail party crowd can laugh it off with ease. I hope they know what they are doing. I am not betting that they do.

  • Posted By: chindognyc @ 06/17/2008 12:27:53 PM

    Obama has been honest since day one. When people use racial slurs and negative attacks, he has shined and stuck to his beliefs. I know Obama will do his best to complete most of his promise. It won't be easy to complete all of them but at least he told us that.

    • Posted By: News and Notes @ 06/17/2008 1:47:29 PM

      He has been honest, and he is admiratble. However, his best to complete most of his promises is not good enough if he doesn't have sufficient experience to make good on many of his promises.

      • Posted By: chindognyc @ 06/17/2008 1:51:19 PM

        That is why Presidents have advisers. Bush suppose to have experience and he has advisers and yet he made dumb decisions. Obama will keep most of his promise.

        • Posted By: Smithback @ 06/18/2008 12:03:43 PM

          I'm more concerned about who his advisers will be, hmm...Rev.Wright, Ayers, Rezko or how about Pfleger?

        • Posted By: News and Notes @ 06/17/2008 3:50:43 PM

          If he is elected, let's hope so

  • Posted By: celeste47 @ 06/17/2008 3:54:04 PM

    After what the country has experienced and the residuals to come, I know I can't stand the thought of having John McCain in office.

    If America puts McCain in office, America deserves the overturning of Roe vs. Wade, America deserves no health care, America deserves lack of attention to our education system and under paid teachers thus under achieving students so we can continue to fall behind in the world while foreigners take over our high tech jobs. McCain voted against equal pay for women, voted against health care insurance for children, voted against extended unemployment comp., and voted against law preventing discrimination against women. Thus women who vote for McCain deserves what they get.


    If America puts McCain in office, America deserves a Supreme court that will always side against the common American for Corporate America. America will deserve continued infringement on our privacy with warrantless wiretaps. America will deserve continued tax breaks for the richest 1% while we can't afford gas to get to work. America deserves the same energy policy that will take gas to $12 a gallon like in Europe. America will deserve food prices where milk is $6. America will deserve that devaluation of the US dollar which at this point, not only is the Canadian dollar now worth more, but the Mexican peso is now catching up.

    If America puts McCain in office, America will deserve to have more of our jobs going over seas. America will deserve losing their high paying jobs and have them replaced with low paying jobs. America deserves to have the biggest tax breaks going to corporation that close our plants to reopen them in China and Mexico. America will deserve the foreclosure rates to continue to grow faster than at any other time in our history.

    If America puts McCain into office, America also deserves to be at war in Iraq for the next hundred years, plus as McCain promised, there will be more wars fellow Americans. America's brave military forces will return after serving our country with nothing because McCain says it cost to much to take care of them. America deserves to have billions, and maybe up to trillions of ours and our children's tax dollars spent in Iraq while we have to wonder if we have another natural disaster, McCain will say helping Americans cost too much.


    If America puts McCain in office, she deserves exactly what McCain will do.

    McCain...........................preparing America for a future of being a third class nation

    • Posted By: grainman84 @ 06/18/2008 11:58:24 AM

      First of all. You need to know change can only happen when WE THE PEOPLE, make changes in congress first. They need to have term limits, to stop the lobbyist from paying huge amounts of their causes!!! Term limits will help, but it would be the first step. Some of these people on this sight would vote for FDR, W.Wilson or Truman. And for the most part any major candidate since Reagan. He along with JFK tried to change things in Washington, but one was killed and one shot. PEOPLE we need to do something NOW, or our CONSTITUTION WILL BE GONE!!!!! FDR< TRUMAN <and WILSON started the movement with the Leage of Nations, the reason for WWII, to the U.N., which has started the wars since. The U.N. should be kicked out of this country!!! The Federal Reserve shut down. And restore our REPUBLIC of STATES tied to the constitution. Vote for Third party or write on in. This will send the message we all want change.

    • Posted By: janforhilary @ 06/17/2008 4:12:21 PM

      Obama cannot change Washington. What is it you don't get. We are not electing a dictator. He will not change anything unless Congress says so.

      • Posted By: barbara474 @ 06/17/2008 4:29:34 PM

        Janfor....it is not for one elected official to change the business-as-usual attitude in Washington, or even a dozen or a hundred. But millions of watchdog voters who keep their eyes on their elected officials...that is where the true power lies. Do you make your needs known to your representatives?
        Although it is true, what you said about not electing a dictator. She was not chosen as a candidate.
        Just kidding, it was the 'what is it you don't get' comment that made me spar. ;>)

        • Posted By: chindognyc @ 06/17/2008 4:39:14 PM

          Relax barbara. I can see steam coming from the top of your head. :-)

          • Posted By: barbara474 @ 06/17/2008 4:44:26 PM

            Anger, I have found, is rarely worth it. Just took my meds, couln't be more relaxed.

  • Posted By: lhoene @ 06/18/2008 11:57:22 AM

    This article is extremely well-written and provides a great point: Obama is promising for the ever-ambiguous word of "change," but probably will not be able to completely deliver this "change" since Washington is too deep into the status quo. And to the person who commented below me with "Why are these people afraid of this multiracial man?," this article mentioned absolutely nothing about race. I feel as if Obama supporters' minds have been blurred with this concept of "change" and those against Obama don't want this "change" are either racist or Republican. Obama's following is so secure that they don't care if they had to embrace his mistake with Rev. Wright because they are such avid supporters for an unattainable "change."

  • Posted By: Thevail @ 06/18/2008 4:53:29 AM

    Hi LuLuBelle!

    LuLuBelle is a TROLL..HE/SHE posts meanness and hate on Slate too.

    Naughty Republican..no donut.

    Anyone want to see EXACTLY what will happen to YOUR TAXES under each candidate.

    http://money.cnn.com/2008/06/11/news/economy/candidates_taxproposals_tpc/?postversion=2008061111

  • Posted By: GregAugustaGA @ 06/17/2008 2:57:17 PM

    Right, they invented dirty and illegal political tactics Chicago. He is no different than all the rest. He will say and/or do anything to get elected. By the way I am a life long Democrat who just doesn't trust Obama or think he is the answer. Nothing more, nothing less.

    • Posted By: LuLuBelle @ 06/18/2008 2:12:18 AM

      You are right. Obama has used dirty tactics to win his state senate and senate seat, yet runs on a platform of "change". It is ludicrous. Where have people been that they have not bothered to research Obama and find out just how crooked he is?

      He is a bigger liar and crook that Nixon was.

      And what the heck has he done to "change" Chicago? It is aobut the most crime-ridden city in the United States. Where is the "change" he managed there?

      People need to stop just believing his garbage and look up the truth about him. Or are you afraid to find out justt what a crook you hero is?

    • Posted By: chindognyc @ 06/17/2008 3:08:42 PM

      So stop talking and vote for McCain. Then please let me see you enlist in the Armed Forces and go to Iraq. Since you think McCain is our best choice, then I want to see you go to Iraq. I want you to tell ladies that you feel that Roe v Wade should be overturned. I want you to tell these ladies that McCain should accept the 300,000 dollars that Clayton Williams helped campaign for him. The same man that said that if a woman is getting raped, she should just lie back and enjoy the ride. He is sick. No woman should accept that at all.

  • Posted By: LuLuBelle @ 06/18/2008 2:03:02 AM

    I am sure Obama can change it - look what he did for Chicago. He can make DC even crookeder than before, since he is just another crook. He has it perfected to a fine art.

  • Posted By: tc125231 @ 06/18/2008 12:39:19 AM

    This cant --uttered like a prayer --that no one can change Washington is emprically nonsense. Reagan changed Washington. G.W. Bush certain;y changed it. There is debate about whether these ,en changed it for better or worse. There is almost no debate that they changed it.

    The thinking seems to be --many people can "accidentally" or at least, undetected by the pundits --change the nation in ways that damage the economy or the value of the dollar, or our standing in the world, or the Constitution.

    But, say these self appointed wisdom ones, NO ONE can intentionally change it for the better.

    The gradual decline is not our fault, they say, it is a force of nature, or God's will, or entropy.

    I am unimpressed: "The fault, dear Brutus, lies not in our stars, but in ourselves...."

  • Posted By: vakosh @ 06/17/2008 11:20:30 PM

    This article is dead on. I have been trying to put it into words, most of them ugly, but deep down inside this is my concern. Although I like his message and I agree he is inspiring, it's the talk of "changing washington" that gets in my crawl at night. I think if it were that easy, someone would have thought of it before. It seems a simple statement for a very complex system. Most say no you don't understand him he is an idealist, but if you are a realist how do you even begin to buy in. I admire him, I like him, but I don't think he "gets it." Before the wave of "you're so negative" starts, this is just my gut reaction. I speak for no one but myself.

  • Posted By: MG of IL @ 06/17/2008 11:01:32 PM

    Maybe it isn't so much the people or the power they hold it's whether or not they have an ounce of integrity. Maybe it seems out of this world to want to change anything - change of any kind has to start somewhere with some leadership and vision. We need some politicians who are decent, honest and work for the people they represent.

  • Posted By: mbailiff @ 06/17/2008 5:24:21 PM

    It's funny that stories like this are being written now instead of two months ago.

    • Posted By: dkrish @ 06/17/2008 10:14:54 PM

      I agree..as long he was running against clinton, he could do no wrong. And now the honeymoon is over

    • Posted By: wilsan @ 06/17/2008 6:05:46 PM

      it's no accident, mbailiff.

  • Posted By: speckelbelly @ 06/17/2008 9:06:52 PM

    YEA! WELL ALL YOU POWER BROKERS BETTER GET A GRIP!!OTHER WISE THE PEOPLE WILL TAKE BACK THE GOOD OLE USA! YOU WILL NOT HAVE A POT TO PI$$ IN! WHAT? YOU DO NOT GET IT?WE THE PEOLE ARE TIRED OF THE BS AND WERE NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANY MORE!!AS YOU CAN SEE FROM THE LAST REAL ELECTIONS . NEW PEOPLE ARE COMMING IN! MOSTLY DEMOCRATES!!!

  • Posted By: glimps @ 06/17/2008 8:07:16 PM

    WOW !! Washington works on another level? i didnt know had no clue........

  • Posted By: Dollared @ 06/17/2008 12:42:12 PM

    I'm troubled by this article. Many well-connected people sit around a room, fueled by some nice food and some expensive wine, and say that Barack Obama wants to make them change. Yet another journalist who is more a member of that social club than a committed journalist, sits and agrees with them, and then publishes their point of view as completely legitimate.

    Sounds to me like we have a journalist who is serving his rich friends more than he is serving his readers.

    • Posted By: chindognyc @ 06/17/2008 12:57:40 PM

      Thats sounds like John McCain Dollared. He has friends like Clayton Williams and he says that he wants nothing to do with him, but oh, let me keep his money. Lets talk about how Tom Rezco donated money to Bill Clinton since he is on Bill's donors list.

      • Posted By: chindognyc @ 06/17/2008 1:03:08 PM

        And I do apologize, it's Tony Rezco.

        • Posted By: NO OOOOOOOOO @ 06/17/2008 7:57:45 PM

          No...it's actually Tony Rezko.

    • Posted By: barbara474 @ 06/17/2008 1:34:08 PM

      Dollared: Agreed.

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