Sean Combs once said “Don’t Talk About It, Be About It….”.  Barack Obama is doing just that.  On the campaign trail, Obama has been outlying principles that he believes should be included in the Economic Bailout plan.  An ABC news blog reports:

ABC’s Sunlen Miller reports: Since yesterday, Sen. Barack Obama has spoken on the phone with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Senate Banking Committee chairman Chris Dodd, Rep. Barney Frank, Sen. Chuck Schumer, Rep. Ralph Emmanuel, former President Bill Clinton and Sen. Hillary Clinton about the economic situation and the plan for dealing with it.

Spokesperson Linda Douglass says that the conversations were about devising a “quick, bipartisan solution” to the economic crisis and they touched on the principles that Obama laid out in a speech in Charlotte, N.C., today.

“As of now, the Bush administration has only offered a concept with a staggering price tag, not a plan,” Obama said. “Even if the U.S. Treasury recovers some or most of its investment over time, this initial outlay of up to $700 billion is sobering. And in return for their support, the American people must be assured that the deal reflects the basic principles of transparency, and fairness, and reform. We can’t allow this to happen again. They have run this government, they have run this economy into the ground. We’ve got to make sure that we lift if back up, but we’ve got to have some rules in place to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Obama set out seven principles (several of which he has regularly mentioned on the campaign trail) for what he would like to see included in the government’s bailout plan.

• No blank check. If we grant the Treasury broad authority to address the immediate crisis, we must insist on independent accountability and oversight. Given the breach of trust we have seen and the magnitude of the taxpayer money involved, there can be no blank check.

 

• Rescue requires mutual responsibility. As taxpayers are asked to take extraordinary steps to protect our financial system, it is only appropriate to expect those institutions that benefit to help protect American homeowners and the American economy. We cannot underwrite continued irresponsibility, where CEOs cash in and our regulators look the other way. We cannot abet and reward the unconscionable practices that triggered this crisis. We have to end them.

 

• Taxpayers should be protected. This should not be a handout to Wall Street. It should be structured in a way that maximizes the ability of taxpayers to recoup their investment. Going forward, we need to make sure that the institutions that benefit from financial insurance also bear the cost of that insurance.

 

• Help homeowners stay in their homes. This crisis started with homeowners and they bear the brunt of the nearly unprecedented collapse in housing prices. We cannot have a plan for Wall Street banks that does not help homeowners stay in their homes and help distressed communities.

 

• A global response. As I said on Friday, this is a global financial crisis and it requires a global solution. The United States must lead, but we must also insist that other nations, who have a huge stake in the outcome, join us in helping to secure the financial markets.

 

• Main Street, not just Wall Street. The American people need to know that we feel as great a sense of urgency about the emergency on Main Street as we do the emergency on Wall Street. That is why I call on Senator McCain, President Bush, Republicans and Democrats to join me in supporting an emergency economic plan for working families – a plan that would help folks cope with rising gas and food prices, save one million jobs through rebuilding our schools and roads, help states and cities avoid painful budget cuts and tax increases, help homeowners stay in their homes, and provide retooling assistance to help ensure that the fuel-efficient cars of the future are built in America.

 

• Build a regulatory structure for the 21^st Century. While there is not time in a week to remake our regulatory structure to prevent abuses in the future, we should commit ourselves to the kind of reforms I have been advocating for several years. We need new rules of the road for the 21^st Century economy, together with the means and willingness to enforce them.

 

 Sounds like a great plan to me.  It also sounds fair and beneficial.  What do you think??

This picture was on Yahoo this week of protesters at a Barack Obama Rally in Miami:

The protestors had signs saying things like “Blacks Against Obama”, “Obama endorsed by the KKK”, “Obama for Abortion”, “Obama for Gay Marriage”. The AFP reports:

Around 20 African-Americans heckled Barack Obama at a rally here Friday, screaming chants and holding up placards accusing the White House hopeful of selling out the black community.

As the Democrat, who would be the first African-American US president, spoke, the protestors jumped up from their seats in a corner high up in the University of Miami’s basketball arena. One of their signs said: “Barack Obama endorsed by KKK (Ku Klux Klan).”

Police and Secret Service agents intervened, as thousands of Obama supporters responded with boos and jeers. The protestors did not appear to resist as they were hustled out of the stadium.

“OK, let’s get back to work,” Obama said after the five-minute interruption, resuming a speech dominated by attacks on Republican rival John McCain’s record on women’s issues and the economy at a time of financial crisis.

Here we go again.  Barack is “selling out the Black community”???  I don’t get it.  This guy is running to become the president of a multi-racial, multi-cutural, multi-religious country.  It is impossible and stupid for him to only support issues of the Black community.  If we pay attention to the policies he proposes, and if he truly enacts these policies, we will see that he is in this to help everyone, not just Black America.  We should stop scrutinizing him in a way that we would never scrutinize any other politician.  I didn’t hear about these same protestors showing up to disrupt Jeb Bush rallies when Florida mysteriously became a big stallwart in both the 2000 and 2004 presidential races, and his brother G.W. was the questionable candidate.  These same protestors aren’t showing up to McCain rallies accusing him of selling out the Black community.  And we already know what if you don’t make over about $300k a year, we aren’t even on the radar for McCain.  I’m just tired of the hypocrisy and unfair treatment.

If you don’t want to support Barack Obama, then don’t support him for legitimate reasons, not because of media generated lies or misunderstandings of his policies.  I implore you, please go to the Barack Obama website and see where he stands on everything before you make a decision.

The closer we get to the election day, the crazier things get.  I was watching Larry King last night and two Republicans were arguing with two Democrats and the four were pretty close to ripping each other’s heads off.  This election really has people excited.  Now whether that excitement is for good or bad is a totally different story.

In the midst of all of this craziness, I want to know what is the place or appropriateness of “Hacktivists”?  If you havent’s heard, these are the organizations that hack websites and email accounts with some sort of politicial intention.  This past week, images of Sarah Palin’s hacked Yahoo email account has been posted on the web:

and this one

This was reportedly her “personal” email address, but she was using it as a means of communicating the official business of Alaska.  So was it really “personal”?  This is why the government has secured servers behind very intensive firewalls.

Also, Bill O’Reilly’s website was hacked because he publically scolded the hacktivists:

So is there a place for this in politics?  Or is it completely wrong.  Many argue that in Sarah Palin’s case, America still doesn’t know enough about her to make a determination as to whether she should be elected or not, and the hacktivists are working on our behalf.  I don’t care for Bill O’Reilly, but I wouldn’t want my site and all of my subscriber’s personal info to be hacked either.

So my question is this, How do the actions of hacktivists affect the campaigns?  For good?  For bad?  For information?  Are they sending the messages that match their intentions??  Tell me what you think.