10/28/09
Health Reform Message from First Lady Michelle Obama
The White House released a new web video today featuring First Lady Michelle Obama. In the video, Mrs. Obama shares a personal story about youngest daughter Sasha’s health scare as a baby and explains why the President’s plan is essential to families and women in particular. The video also features Roxi Griffin, a cancer survivor who’s now being forced to choose between paying for medical tests and being able to afford to stay in her home (so far, she’s choosing her home), and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius who explains how our current health care system discriminates against women when it comes to the services insurance plans cover - often not the services women need - and how they regularly charge women more than men for the same care. Watch it below:
10/22/09
A Special Message from the President
President Obama is scheduled to speak live at a New York call party starting at 8:05 p.m.
Amazing.
By Rohit from Washington, DC
We wanted to reach 100,000 calls to Congress. We more than tripled it.
What... a... night. Here in New York, people were lined up for blocks just to catch a glimpse of what was going on. Individuals were greeted at the door with a long, rectangular card. Each card had information about the President's plan as well as five unique numbers for event attendees to call.
The evening started off with New York State Director of Organizing for America, Melissa DeRosa, giving the 101 on what OFA does and why it is so important. While she was saying it, you were doing it. After Melissa, Ugly Betty actress and Generation 44 committee member America Ferrera took the stage as a voice for youth activists nationwide. She emphasized the importance of young people taking part in the dialogue and action that improves our country.
Following America, Dr. Manisha Sharma spoke to the crowd as both a physician and a patient. Dr. Sharma spoke about the importance of health insurance reform, and reminded us that healthcare is a right, not a privilege. She committed, as a physician, to support health insurance reform now, and re-expressed President Obama's statement that now is the "Time to Deliver."
OFA then took the stage. Julia Shannon, the OFA New York Field Director, led an open phonebank among the crowd with her colleagues Keith Kinch and Geoff Berman. Cell phones were handed out, and people started calling through the lists on their cards, asking even more New Yorkers to contact Congress themselves, in the true spirit of Organizing for America.
The phonebank was a perfect transition to introduce Democratic National Committee Chairman, Governor Tim Kaine. The Chairman recognized Organizing For America and the importance of their work at the DNC. He also highlighted all the energy that you have shown moving from the Presidential race to the new health reform campaign.
Next up: President Obama brought his energy (and his mop) to the stage.
President Obama thanked everyone from OFA, both present here at the Hammerstein Ballroom and on our webcast, for their continued knocking on doors and phone calls. He reminded us that even the most restrictive version of health reform yet passed through committee would guarantee coverage for over 29 million uninsured Americans. He welcomed honest debate and bipartisan participation, but drew the line at rooting for failure. He explained that when we all have work to do to clean up the mess we inherited, it's not time to stand around on the sidelines and complain, it's time to grab a mop. The crowd erupted in cheers. The spirit of participation and the excitement was truly incredible.
Thousands of people joined in, and still, we have events going on coast to coast. This is what organizing is all about. Thanks for an amazing night.
Rohit
We wanted to reach 100,000 calls to Congress. We more than tripled it.
What... a... night. Here in New York, people were lined up for blocks just to catch a glimpse of what was going on. Individuals were greeted at the door with a long, rectangular card. Each card had information about the President's plan as well as five unique numbers for event attendees to call.
The evening started off with New York State Director of Organizing for America, Melissa DeRosa, giving the 101 on what OFA does and why it is so important. While she was saying it, you were doing it. After Melissa, Ugly Betty actress and Generation 44 committee member America Ferrera took the stage as a voice for youth activists nationwide. She emphasized the importance of young people taking part in the dialogue and action that improves our country.
Following America, Dr. Manisha Sharma spoke to the crowd as both a physician and a patient. Dr. Sharma spoke about the importance of health insurance reform, and reminded us that healthcare is a right, not a privilege. She committed, as a physician, to support health insurance reform now, and re-expressed President Obama's statement that now is the "Time to Deliver."
OFA then took the stage. Julia Shannon, the OFA New York Field Director, led an open phonebank among the crowd with her colleagues Keith Kinch and Geoff Berman. Cell phones were handed out, and people started calling through the lists on their cards, asking even more New Yorkers to contact Congress themselves, in the true spirit of Organizing for America.
The phonebank was a perfect transition to introduce Democratic National Committee Chairman, Governor Tim Kaine. The Chairman recognized Organizing For America and the importance of their work at the DNC. He also highlighted all the energy that you have shown moving from the Presidential race to the new health reform campaign.
Next up: President Obama brought his energy (and his mop) to the stage.
President Obama thanked everyone from OFA, both present here at the Hammerstein Ballroom and on our webcast, for their continued knocking on doors and phone calls. He reminded us that even the most restrictive version of health reform yet passed through committee would guarantee coverage for over 29 million uninsured Americans. He welcomed honest debate and bipartisan participation, but drew the line at rooting for failure. He explained that when we all have work to do to clean up the mess we inherited, it's not time to stand around on the sidelines and complain, it's time to grab a mop. The crowd erupted in cheers. The spirit of participation and the excitement was truly incredible.
Thousands of people joined in, and still, we have events going on coast to coast. This is what organizing is all about. Thanks for an amazing night.
Rohit
10/11/09
Breaking: President Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize
Early this morning, it was announced that President Obama had been selected as the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. From the New York Times:
In a special surprise, the Nobel Committee announced in Oslo, which has awarded the annual prize for the president "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen diplomacy and international cooperation among peoples." The award specifically mentioned Obama's efforts to reduce the World Nuclear Arsenal.
"He created a new international climate," the committee said.
The announcement early next killer with Mr Obama - less than nine months after taking office as president the first African-American - has shocked the public by Norway in Washington.
The White House had no idea it was coming.
... A senior government official said in an e-mail message that Mr. Gibbs had called the White House shortly before 6 am and woke up the president with the news.
"The president was humbled to be selected by the committee," the official said, without adding anything else.
Obama has done to repair the fractured relations between the United States and the world, a major theme of his campaign for the presidency and since he took office as president, has pursued a series of policies to achieve this goal. He promised to pursue a world without nuclear weapons, as he did in a speech in Prague earlier this year, reached toward the Muslim world, giving a major speech in Cairo in June, and I I tried to restart peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians.
"Only very rarely does anyone have the same degree that Obama has attracted the attention of the world and given his people hope for a better future," he told the Committee in its citation. "His diplomacy is based on the idea that those who run the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority in the world."
In a special surprise, the Nobel Committee announced in Oslo, which has awarded the annual prize for the president "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen diplomacy and international cooperation among peoples." The award specifically mentioned Obama's efforts to reduce the World Nuclear Arsenal.
"He created a new international climate," the committee said.
The announcement early next killer with Mr Obama - less than nine months after taking office as president the first African-American - has shocked the public by Norway in Washington.
The White House had no idea it was coming.
... A senior government official said in an e-mail message that Mr. Gibbs had called the White House shortly before 6 am and woke up the president with the news.
"The president was humbled to be selected by the committee," the official said, without adding anything else.
Obama has done to repair the fractured relations between the United States and the world, a major theme of his campaign for the presidency and since he took office as president, has pursued a series of policies to achieve this goal. He promised to pursue a world without nuclear weapons, as he did in a speech in Prague earlier this year, reached toward the Muslim world, giving a major speech in Cairo in June, and I I tried to restart peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians.
"Only very rarely does anyone have the same degree that Obama has attracted the attention of the world and given his people hope for a better future," he told the Committee in its citation. "His diplomacy is based on the idea that those who run the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority in the world."
"A Call to Action": President Obama On Winning the Nobel Peace Prize
In reacting to the news this morning that he had won the Nobel Peace Prize, the President struck a note of humility and recognized that the award was a nod to a vision of what is to come:
I am surprised and deeply humbled by the decision of the Nobel Committee. Let me be clear: I do not consider this as recognition of my achievements, but rather the assertion of American leadership on behalf of the aspirations held by people of all nations.
To be honest, I do not deserve to be in the company of so many figures of transformation that has been honored by this award - men and women who have inspired me and inspired the world through their courageous pursuit of peace.
But I also know that this award reflects the kind of world that men and women and all Americans, want to build - a world that gives life to the promise of our founding documents. And I know that throughout history, the Nobel Peace Prize has not only been used to honor specific output is also used as a means of giving impetus to a number of causes. And so I accept this award as a call to action - a call for all nations to address common challenges of the 21st century.
I am surprised and deeply humbled by the decision of the Nobel Committee. Let me be clear: I do not consider this as recognition of my achievements, but rather the assertion of American leadership on behalf of the aspirations held by people of all nations.
To be honest, I do not deserve to be in the company of so many figures of transformation that has been honored by this award - men and women who have inspired me and inspired the world through their courageous pursuit of peace.
But I also know that this award reflects the kind of world that men and women and all Americans, want to build - a world that gives life to the promise of our founding documents. And I know that throughout history, the Nobel Peace Prize has not only been used to honor specific output is also used as a means of giving impetus to a number of causes. And so I accept this award as a call to action - a call for all nations to address common challenges of the 21st century.
10/8/09
Doctors Call for Health Reform
Yesterday, the President hosted doctors from all 50 states here at the White House, coming together in a powerful testimonial to what reform is all about.
Today the White House released a new video featuring interviews with many of those doctors at the event. Their testimonies are a reminder that the people at the real frontlines of the health care battle are not lobbyists or politicians invested in protecting the status quo, but are instead the people who deal with the health and well-being of our families every day and see the need for change first hand:
President Obama Hosts Doctors for Health Reform
Here's the full video of the President's remarks from earlier in the week, in front of a gathering of doctors at the White House in support of health reform:
10/5/09
Obama gives back-to-school speech
U.S. President Barack Obama has urged American school children to work hard and not giving a pedagogical discourse that has triggered a one-sided polemic.
In a speech Tuesday in a school in Virginia, Obama said the future of children in their countries depended on their performance.
But conservatives have complained that attempts to indoctrinate children to serve its political agenda.
The wording of some teaching tools have changed since the review.
'Hard work'
In his speech, Obama to students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia, that in addition to teachers, parents and the government, they are responsible for academic success.
"No matter what you want to do with your life - I guarantee you'll need an education to do it," he said.
As well as individual success, the future success of the country will depend on it, Mr Obama said in the speech.
The speech was broadcast on a cable TV station and on the White House website.
"Your goal can be something as simple as doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending time each day reading a book," Mr Obama said.
"Being successful is hard," Mr Obama added - and he pointed to figures such as JK Rowling and Michael Jordan, who he said overcame initial failures in order to find success.
"No-one's born being good at things."
'Socialist ideology'
But even before President Obama had delivered his speech, it was attracting criticism from conservatives.
Some said it was not promoting education but aimed at indoctrinating children into supporting the president.
Last week, Florida Republican Party chairman Jim Greer said he was "absolutely appalled that taxpayer dollars are being used to spread President Obama's socialist ideology".
Parents' complaints that the speech would be one-sided prompted some school districts not to broadcast it, and others to allow parents to withdraw their children.
On Monday, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs rejected the criticism, calling it a "sad, sad day that the political back-and-forth has intruded on anyone's speaking to schoolchildren and parents about the responsibilities they have".
But the education department acknowledged that a teaching aid which suggested students write about "how they could help the president" was poorly worded.
It released an amended version.
In light of the change, Mr Greer said he now approved of the address, reported Associated Press.
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