Unify the Democratic Party!

Right now, Jim Dean is asking members of the Democratic Party to take the UNITY PLEDGE to reach out to 5 people who you know supported a different candidate for the nomination RIGHT NOW and bring them into our campaign.

Jim Dean wants us to listen, empathize, and try to help them move past the pain and think of the good of the country. This is bigger than an alliance to one candidate...

He encourages us to convince them that if they are thinking of voting for McCain, then they are not choosing the same values and goals of their original candidate. McCain is for the same things as Clinton or Edwards or Richards, and definitely not Biden or Kucinich!

I had a fellow democrat email me last week to tell me that while she and her family have been staunch democrats [she] can not support Obama. While curious if this means that she merely won't be publicly promoting Obama or if she really will not vote for our presumptive democratic nominee, I can't yet bring myself to ask.

People need time to heal. Our fellow democrats have been going through the stages of grief. We can reach out and let them know that we are here. However, until they embrace acceptance, we should not rain upon them neither reason nor rhetoric.

I will reach out and say to the Clinton supporters I know,

The democratic values you believe in have not been lost.
They are embodied in Obama.

The major difference between Obama and Clinton was not policy or democratic values, but rather the way they went about living those values. Clinton wants to restore jobs and rebuild the middle class. She wants to help make health care and education rights and not privileges....

But when Clinton talked about making change, it was about what SHE would do for US.
When Obama talks about making change, it is about what WE can do TOGETHER.

Keep your not-yet-Obama-supporters away from the strange delusion that McCain is a better choice because of his experience...Clinton really did not help herself or the party by pursuing that line of reasoning.

McCain is to Hillary as Bush is to Bill.
Let's try to keep that thought in mind.

Obama is to Hillary as Richardson is to Edwards...

Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have been stressing party unity through the month of May. At the Jefferson-Jackson dinner this year, Clinton even said,

If [Obama] is the nominee, I'll work my heart out for him."

If Clinton is offering to promote Obama as the candidate as well as hold the Vice President position, then why should her supporters do anything besides vote for Obama?

Take the UNITY PLEDGE and reach out to your fellow democrats to unify our party, but please use caution. They may need time to heal.

Pundits liked to spin a drawn out primary as bad for the party, but more people have been fired up by it across our nation than have been in 30 years! More people are interested and engaged!!! This primary has helped us to see the real stakes of the election.

To safeguard our future, democrats must stand together.

Race for Tibet!

As we get closer to the realization of the 2008 Olympic games it become more apparent to observers that China is not getting any better at addressing the human rights issues, for which they have received much criticism from the international committee.

People with the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) and the Australian Tibet Council are worried that China will use its Olympic charter to legitimize their presence in Tibet, misrepresenting present conditions. They have developed an Olympic mascot using the Tibetan antelope, perhaps in an attempt to lighten the weight of the fact that they are invaders to Tibet and its people.

The Race for Tibet campaign, initiated by the International Campaign for Tibet, is asking people to sign a petition demanding that China improve its human right conditions and urging the Chairman of the International Olympic Council to maintain its integrity and hold nations accountable and dedicated to peace.

The ITC sees the Beijing 2008 Olympic games as a way to draw attention to the human rights issues in Tibet. Many people pay attention to the Olympics. 302 nations are expected to compete in 28 sports in the 2008 Olympics. In 2004 according to information on Wikipedia.This campaign has links that will guide you to the various ways you can help make important human rights policies become a reality in Tibet.

It is unfortunate that the campaign to Free Tibet has remained a fringe issue for so long. The Chinese invaded Tibet in 1949. 58 years later the government of Tibet and his Holiness the Dali Lama are still in exile.

If you are not familiar with this issue, the ITC offers many fact sheets and as well as a brief question and answer site. If you would like to use this platform to help educate friends, acquaintances, neighbors, or co-workers who are not well-informed about Tibet, but who love the Olympics, then this is your chance to work your liberal politics into the conversation! The Race for Tibet site has also created fliers you can post around town, in the coffee shop, in the mail room, or at the grocery store.

Millions of people follow the Olympics, but few are aware of the human rights issues in China and Tibet. Please use this campaign to help build awareness. You can offer your assistance from your desk! This campaign is an excellent example of how the Internet is making mass involvement possible.