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As part of an ongoing effort to energize his Democratic base ahead of the mid-term election on Nov. 2, President Obama spoke with the Rev. Al Sharpton on his radio show Tuesday afternoon, calling on his supporters to show up at the polls so that he can continue to carry out his agenda.
The roughly 10-minute conversation followed a similar discussion the president had with Eddie "Piolin" Sotero, host of Univision's popular, syndicated, Spanish-language radio show "Piolin por la Manana", which aired Monday.
"Anybody who is concerned about the direction of the country has to understand that this election is as important as 2008," Obama told Sharpton.
There are as many as 100 competitive races for seats in the House of Representatives this year and the vast majority of them are held by Democrats. Many analysts expect Republicans to gain dozens of seats in the House, enough to gain control of the chamber. Obama performed strongly among minority voters in the presidential election and with one week to go, he is stepping up efforts to get out the vote in the black and Hispanic communities.
The president himself voted today, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters during the press briefing, casting his absentee ballot for Democratic candidate for the Senate, Alexi Giannoulias, and for governor, Pat Quinn.
In the radio interview, the president stressed the middle class tax cuts included in the stimulus package, billions of dollars in neighborhood stabilization funds that he said were helping people in struggling communities get back to work, programs to help people avoid foreclosure and help for small businesses as steps his administration has taken to help ordinary people.
"All these provisions that we've put in place over the last two years are making big difference in the community, but that doesn't excuse the fact that we've still got a long way to go," he said in response to a question from Sharpton about his message to voters discouraged by the state of the economy. "Digging ourselves out of this hole is gonna take some time and understandably people feel frustrated and impatient; I feel impatient about it. But the question is are we gonna make sure that we continue on the progress that we're on or that we go back to the policies that got us into this mess in the first place."
The president said the Republican Party was focused on things like tax cuts for the rich and cuts to education funding rather than helping middle class Americans and young people.
"If we don't have strong leaders in Congress who are supportive of this agenda, who are supportive of moving the country forward," the president said. "If instead we've got folks who want to move backwards to the same failed policies that got us into this mess in the first place, then it's going to be very difficult for me to keep making progress and do what folks want to see me do over the next two years."
Obama also encouraged people who live in areas where they can vote early to go out and do it, directing people to the website www.raiseyourvote.com for information on how to do so. (His wife also touted the site in this video.)
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Vote democrat...gots to keep the wings and watermelon train running...oh...and dont foget to up does welfare checks...the price of crack went up.
Long night at work, so to cut it short, here is a clip! Some will agree and some are so set in their ways that they are afraid to do the right thing on November 2. No one will know how you voted and you do not have to tell anyone, just do what you think is right for you, for your family, and for your nation! Forget about the past, those people are gone, and they are not in this campaign. Think about today and what is going on, if you like it, then vote for it. If you don't like it, then vote to change it. Thank a vet today for fighting for our freedom and for our rights!! Use your rights and your freedom to make your voices heard, get out and vote!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLlF5YMf7Yc
The problem with the Dems is that they are under the spell of Oblaba. He has devastated America with t
he highest unemployment yet seen in America but still they follow him. His economics progressive theories
don't work yet they follow him. He has no experience or managaing anything yet they follow him. He has
an ingrained habit of lying, being deceitful, a policy of dividing the country and yet they follow him. All his
tactics on the above is straight out of the Alinsky play book. I think I read somewhere that the President
is viewing this election and all election as a fight to the death-- that is death to his enemies. Oblaba's
speeches and tactics reeks of the life in Chicago where politics and gutter language is practiced than the
politics practiced in the rest of America.
“Democratic base” is code for “African-Americans”, since 91% of the Af-Ams still support Obama, while most everyone else has quit listening to him. Apparently, the Af-Ams are still enamored with Obama because he has the same coffee-colored skin that many Af-Ams have. Somehow, that seems just a tiny bit racist to me. Call me silly. I could be wrong. Maybe it’s just me. But that’s the way I see it.
i'm in high school, and what's hilarious to me is that African-American cultural Clubs are allowed, Asian clubs are allowed, Latino/Hispanic clubs are allowed(actually two at my school). However, no white cultural club, because that's RACIST. Apparently there's no such thing as portuguese or italian culture because I'm white and, of course, white people don't have culture.
What a racial comment...surprise that a lib is playing the race card! And oh, by the way, those "whites" are part of the reason Obama won. Middle-of-the-road independents, many if not most of whom are white, voted for Obama because they thought they'd get something different...ask any political analyst worth his salt and he'll verify for you that the minority vote alone would not have won him the election in 2008. But you wouldn't understand that cause you're still playing the same tired race card. Get over it! The American people-white, black, purple, green etc--have woken up to the European socialist model this guy has crafted his policies after and they clearly don't want it!