Barack Obama is ready for his primetime special. The Democratic Presidential candidate and front runner in the US race will air a no doubt slickly produced and likely compelling half hour special to encourage people to vote for him. It will air simultaneously tonight at 8pm Eastern and Pacific time, 7pm Central and Mountain, on major networks including CBS, Fox, NBC and cable channels BET and MSNBC. Barack Obama: American Stories will focus on where Obama will help lead America, using real Americans and their stories. The show will also feature a live segment aired from a rally in Orlando, Florida where Obama is set to appear tonight. It is the first time a Presidential candidate will air a primetime special since Ross Perot in 1992.
Mr. Obama’s campaign agreed to provide The New York Times with a minute-long trailer for the 30-minute program, which is to run on four broadcast networks at 8 p.m. It will be the first time in 16 years that a presidential candidate has bought network time, in prime time, for a prolonged campaign commercial.
The trailer is heavy in strings, flags, presidential imagery and some Americana filmed by Davis Guggenheim, whose father was the campaign documentarian of Robert F. Kennedy. As the screen flashes scenes of suburban lawns, a freight train and Mr. Obama seated at a kitchen table with a group of white, apparently working-class voters, Mr. Obama says: “We’ve seen over the last eight years how decisions by a president can have a profound effect on the course of history and on American lives; much that’s wrong with our country goes back even farther than that.”
Then, while standing before a stately desk and an American flag, Mr. Obama, in a suit, says: “We’ve been talking about the same problems for decades and nothing is ever done to solve them. For the past 20 months, I’ve traveled the length of this country, and Michelle and I have met so many Americans who are looking for real and lasting change that makes a difference in their lives.”
[NY Times via Huffington Post]
Obama has an arguably comfortable lead in the polls with less than a week to go before election day, but people need to get out and vote. Early voting favors Obama and there is cautious optimism that he will secure the presidency. He certainly knows how to run a very solid campaign. The fact that he has a great team behind him and is committed to listening intently to what average Americans want bodes well for his potential presidency.
To find out how much you will potentially save under Obama’s tax plan visit Taxcut.barackobama.com for an easy-to-use calculator.
[some details from Washington Post]
Here are photos of Matt Damom campaigning for Obama in West Palm Beach on 10/26/08. Credit: WENN. Header of Obama at a rally in Illinois on 10/21/08. Credit: PRPhotos
Yeah, Obama’s amazingly well-run campaign is one of the many reasons I’m voting for him.
And FYI to anyone who cares – Keith Olberman and Rachel Maddow will both be doing post-primetime-special shows afterwards on MSNBC.
Does heavy flag imagery ever really work anymore? I can’t wait to see the Daily Show segment tearing this one to shreds.
I love Keith Olberman!
So, I’ll get a tax cut of $500 a year, plus a possible incentive of up to $1000 for retirement savings. Hurray for me!
My family and I stand to save $1800 next in taxes under Obama. With a baby on the way, we sure could use that money.
I’m tired of the “redistribution of wealth” messaging the McCain camp keeps harping on. It’s not redistribution if the money is never taken out of my pocket in the first place. He’s calling Obama a socialist but sees nothing wrong with using taxpayer money to purchase private mortgage companies and banks who were mismanaged. And isn’t he proposing that the government buys back all those bad home loans? That’s socialism – but nobody’s calling him on it.
keith olberman + rachel maddow = true love!!
i highly doubt the daily show would “rip this apart”. stewert usually focuses on bashing mccain/palin, not obama. and im sure obama will have some great things to say tonite.
Yes it does. Thats why the RNC ran a huge flag as a backdrop for its convention. Its why I still get emails about his lack of a flagpin.
I already voted, so I am NOT going to watch this. DVDs for me.
He’s welcome to do as he likes – so long as I get my Pushing Daisies!
Wait? What’s that? I get my Pushing Daisies!?! Then Go Team Obama!
I am tired of seeing him everywhere. It’s Obama overload.
And it is wealth redistribution, just because it is not coming out of your pocket does not mean it isn’t coming out of someone else’s. And Biden says he is going to go after rich people’s pensions. So now being rich means you should get penalized and have your retirement savings taken away so you can be broke when old. Those are some fine people you tools are voting for right there.
My mind was made up long ago. Any more political ads, specials, conferences etc etc. are just flogging a dead horse. I’ll be watching my Ghost Hunters as always.
And Biden says he is going to go after rich people’s pensions.
Uh, no- he want to increase the capitol gains tax so the rich jerks have to pay their fair share FOR ONCE. Capitol gains taxes are attached to things like stocks etc.
People are so used to getting pissed on by the rich, they don’t even mind the taste anymore. They’ll leap to their defense in a heartbeat. Since when did rich people have pensions? Contradiction in terms there. My mother has a pension of a whopping 100 bucks a month.
I guess that depends on what Biden considers ‘rich’ 🙄
hmmm… pre-empting Survivor. Not a way to win votes, Obama… (I don’t like politicians as a rule, so if it were McCain, I’d be saying the same thing.)
Daisy, according to Obama’s tax plan, which is available in full on his web site and also on taxpolicy.org, “rich” is defined as a single person or couple whose combined yearly income is more than $250,000 per year.
If someone making that much per year is paying the same amount as I am in federal taxes, how is that fair? We’re not living in the same kind of house, driving the same kind of car, etc. Why should our tax burdens be the same? What’s wrong with making people who make the most money pay the most taxes?
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this – I listened to an American commentator on our local radio about a month or so, who said that it tends to be the middle-class who are the main voting stock in most countries and most moderate and capitalistic governments largely pitch to that audience.
In the US the middle-class is almost a misnomer because if you were just to go by those who consider themselves middle-class it would such a hugely diverse population – ranging from people in an income bracket fo $10,000 to $200-250,000. Basically, middle-class is seen as the least offensive class and it’s what people prefer to consider themselves.
So, with so many people with such diverse incomes class themselves in the same bracket, we’re back to daisy424’s question – who exactly is rich? People who are earning $100-200,000 quite possibly don’t consider themselves rich in comparison to most of their outgoings (multiple cars, large houses with larger cars, holidays, college and school fees etc)
But I do agree that the burden of taxation (be it local/state/federal) should not be onerous on those who cannot afford it – those who can absorb should, for the benefit of all. But to make that palatable there must be a clear plan with clear benefits which are obvious and sustainable.
@Mairead – I don’t know the technicalities of it, but I’ve always determined “middle class” not just by income, but by location. A $100,000 salary is not the same in NYC as in Bumf-ck, Iowa.
But yeah, one of my favorite comebacks from Obama the past few weeks was, “How many plumbers do you know that make a quarter of a million dollars?”
Edit: No disrespect to the fine citizens of Bumf-ck.
MSat, right now I am in the 28% tax bracket. Unless you are making the same amount we are, how can you possibly be paying the same amount we are?
I was questioning Biden’s definition of rich due to his changing opinion on it.
Biden’s interview with a Scranton TV affiliate, in which Biden said that people making under $150,000 per year would get a tax cut under Obama’s tax plan.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAEE1_IUycs
edit* I know a few plumbers that make that kind of $$, one of them is my Father.
I read somewhere that Capitalism is basically socialism for the wealthy (and corporations).
WHY is there such as fear of “redistribution of wealth” when there has been a redistribution of wealth for the past 8 years toward the oil companies, corporations, and super-wealthy? I understand that someone making $500,000 feel its unfair that he/she should haev to pay so much more in taxes than those making, say, $35,000 a year, but consider that without an equitable system or enough $ to support our social strcture, you have more poor people, more unemployed, and generally less $ to support our infrastructure (and that means paying for the police too, all you Republicans so tough on crime). Any system where you have a significant number of overly burdened poor will mean that there will be extra stresses on society and possibly more crime/violence. And sometimes, quite frankly, people get into situations where they aren’t in control of their income – i.e., get sick/have spiraling medical costs and can’t work, etc. I just hope you who don’t want to pay taxes never have to rely on the system/government to help you out.
During the Clinton years, the wealthy did pay a higher portion of taxes, and the country was doing relatively fine. In fact, we were doing more than fine during those years, unlike during the Bush years where Bush cut the income tax rate on the upper bracket and we now have a market meltdown and economic chaos.
I’m voting Barack Already. But I’ll be watching just for the inspiration!
God I love that man. *Swoons*
I’m excited for the rally next week, on the 4th! The air in Chicago is electric these days. It feels like it did back when the Bulls were the dream team with Jordan and Rodman taking us to the championships and bringing it home every year. I’ll try to get photos and if they’re any good I’ll post ’em. 😀
You know what pisses me off the most, this whole horseshit story of how jobs will be lost, people will be layed off, the economy will collapse if taxes are raised on the corporations and wealthy in this country. Wake the fuck up people! What the hell is going on right now?
Bush has given the entire country’s wealth away to his big business buddies and ruined our reputation throughout the world.
But what really pisses me off is to have some dumb ass Joe the Plumber exploiting his 15 minutes of fame telling me about the trickle down theory and how we should continue to fund corporate welfare.
I’m sorry, my workload has doubled because of lay offs, no extra money for me, like it or lump it I’m told. When’s the trickle down theory supposed to kick in by the way I ask?
McCain/Palin and their entire campaign is based on Bush’s policies, specifically his tax policies. It’s insulting to the people who are the backbone of this country. The middle class are asked to bail out financial institutions, airlines, and automobile manufactures, while they ship jobs overseas, pay their employees less and less each year while stealing their retirement funds.
I can’t wait until Bush and the conservative agenda has been booted out of office.
Why does McCain get away with distorting Obama’s message all the time? The one thing I have come to love about Obama is that he is not a cheapstake and he does not stoop low in order to get at his opponents. He could have milked Sarah Palin’s dumbosity, McCain’s ridiculous ‘suspension of cmpaign to save Wall street. (I am still laughing at that one), McCain supported the bail out and wants governement to help with mortagages. Isn’t that socailism.
I watched the Obama pitch yesterday. I have a huge crash on the man. God bless him.
I tried to do your tax compute and the dumb thing is like everthing eles Omaba says– it wouldn’t work just sat there did nothing what joke!!!!!!!!!!
So, now the big man is in the big office, are you guys all feeling a lot richer yet?