News (Noticias) Tagged ‘Barack Obama’

I had the opportunity to see the beginning of Camp Obama Colorado, a Latino community leadership training held in Denver and I have to say that I was impressed.

160 people had registered and although I don’t know the final count of those actually attending the house was essentially packed. They were there from various parts of Colorado from all age groups to partake in what Obama’s Latino team calls “helping local Latino leaders empower themselves with the skills to mobilize voters in their Colorado communities.”

Now what impressed me was that this was actually physical action backed by Obama’s money to work on a grassroots approach. Throughout my three years of covering Hispanic & Latino news, I have heard and seen a lot of lip service and little action from a variety of sources. Similar sentiments have been shared with me many times by fellow Hispanos. So this approach literally made me smile.

In case you don’t know Obama has pledged $20 million to Latino outreach. This is more than any party has ever earmarked to target our growing powerful group and just the start of things to come in. Instead on simply purchasing ads and throwing them up on Spanish-Language media some of that money is going to this project that has already been held in 8 states. This runs counter to the stereotype of today’s marketing approach to our diverse community. This is a brilliant stroke if you ask me and fits into the team’s overall goal of registering as many Latinos as possible. After all, advertising on a national Spanish news TV program would reach only 39% of Hispanic voter and although this is from a 2004 Pew Hispanic study it still reflects today’s basic Hispanic language demographics.

Congrats to Temo Figueroa and his team for this innovative approach on a national level and to Barack Obama for supporting them.

The following is a transcript of remarks as prepared for delivery by Xavier Becerra, Tuesday, August 26, 2008:

Are Democrats in the house tonight? Are you ready to work? Ready to win? You say you’re ready to work. But before any of us arrived here, men and women were already hard at work cleaning, fixing, improving. And when we leave, they will still be here, working and working.

These Americans turned on the lights for this convention, and they will be there to turn them off. They are among the millions of Americans who patrol our streets, harvest our food and care for our loved ones. They are our nation’s backbone, the bedrock of our cherished ethic of perseverance. My friends, let’s let all of America’s workers know: they are in the house tonight!

Yet after eight years of failed economic policies-policies Senator McCain has promised to continue-so many of these folks are feeling invisible and insecure. Over the past eight years, family incomes have dropped $1,000. In just the last six months, 460,000 people have lost their jobs. More than a million family homes are in foreclosure. Record deficit — record and growing debt. Republican fiscal policy — the “gift” that keeps on giving!

If that’s what Republicans mean by con-serv-atism, then we’ll have no more of the con that they’re serving! That’s why we need Barack Obama. Because he’ll take on the naysayers and the special interests. He’ll fight for the forgotten middle class.

Just as our beloved Cesar Chavez dared farmworkers to believe, “sí se puede!”… “yes, we can.” Barack Obama will say to every American that if you work your heart out every day — if you leave it all at the construction site, in the laboratory, in the classroom, at the operating table — then we’ll help you open the door to college and to the doctor’s office. We’ll help you save for the down payment or a dignified retirement. We’ll help you build a better life for your family.

I am the proud son of immigrants, a former member of Local 187 of the laborers union in California, first in my family to receive a university diploma, privileged to have served 16 years in the people’s house representing the great city of Los Angeles. And there is a saying I’ve always believed in: dime con quién andas y te diré quién eres. Tell me with whom you walk and I will tell you who you are.

Well, my friends, I know with whom I walk. I walk with those who build and drive, cook and clean, feed and bathe, protect and serve. And, my fellow Americans, in January, 2009, we will finally have a leader who walks with us — the next President of the United States, Barack Obama! “

The following is a transcript of a speech, as prepared for delivery, by Joe Baca at the Democratic National Convention on Monday, August 25, 2008:
Scheduled for delivery: August 25, 2008 - 4:00-5:00 pm MT
EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE ON DELIVERY
The Honorable Joe Baca
Democratic National Convention
Monday, August 25, 2008
Remarks as Prepared for Delivery
Growing up the youngest of 15 children in a poor New Mexico household, I never would imagine I would one day have the opportunity to speak at such an historic event! It is truly an honor to be here today.
As a boy, I shined shoes, and later I worked as a laborer on the railroads and as a janitor to help my family survive. The struggles I went through grounded me in my Catholic faith and taught me the value of hard work. As a husband, father and grandfather, my faith and my family are my greatest source of strength and guidance. They have also taught me to never forget who I am.
As chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, I represent the interests of the 49 million Hispanics in the United States and Puerto Rico. The Latino community is growing rapidly in both numbers and influence. Our vote, the Latino vote, will be critical in November’s elections. As a Latino, I am here to say our community is proud to support Barack Obama as the next President of the United States of America!
Barack Obama knows our struggles. His modest upbringing as someone born to a single mother and raised with help from his grandparents instilled in him the values of family, faith, hard work and dedication.
He knows we need change, because the last eight years have not been good for us. With the economy in shambles, we cannot afford another term of President Bush’s failed policies.
Barack Obama has hands-on, grassroots experience in creating the kind of change we need. He is the only candidate who represents our views on the issues that matter most to us. On the economy, we need a president who will create jobs here in the U.S. and allow people to put food on the table. On education, we need a president who will provide opportunities for all children. On the Iraq war, we need a president who will bring a responsible end to this war, which was started under false pretenses and has crippled our economy and cost us too many precious American lives. On health care, we need a president who knows that no child living in America should be without health insurance. We need a president who agrees that it is morally wrong to have 12 million uninsured children and 45 million uninsured adults living in the United States. And on immigration, we need a president who will fix our nation’s broken system with a comprehensive solution that respects not only the letter of the law, but also America’s proud history as a nation of immigrants.
So our choice in November is clear. We can vote for four more years of the same disastrous policies that have greatly diminished our hopes and dreams, or we can vote for someone who will fix America’s broken health care and immigration systems, and work to end this war and get our economy moving in the right direction.
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and Latinos throughout the nation, knows that Senator Barack Obama is the candidate who will deliver the change our nation needs. He is the right person for the job. As president, Barack Obama will be a fighter, not only for the Latino community, but for all Americans.
Si se puede con Barack Obama!
SOURCE 2008 Democratic National Convention Committee “

The Republican National Committee (RNC) today announced a new Spanish-language radio advertisement, titled “Commitment v. Rhetoric.” As the Democrats prepare for their national convention in Denver, the radio ad will remind voters that Barack Obama has consistently shown a lack of leadership in defending the interests of the Latino community, while John McCain has consistently taken on the difficult issues facing America.

The Spanish-language ad will begin airing on Monday, August 25. It will air statewide in CO, including Denver, Colorado Springs/Pueblo, Aspen, and Fort Collins/Greeley. The ad will also air in Albuquerque and Las Cruces, New Mexico; Las Vegas, Nevada; and El Paso, Texas.

To listen to the RNC’s new radio ad, visit: www.youtube.com/watch?v=u63lBz6k6m4. or

:60 Radio Advertisement

Title: “Commitment V. Rhetoric”

How do you know someone is a friend?

You know because they stand up and defend you when it is hard.

When Hispanics needed a friend in Congress during the immigration debate… Who stood up? Who spoke out?

John McCain.

Senator McCain worked with Republicans and Democrats alike to form immigration legislation.

And while the bill didn’t pass, only McCain demonstrated a real commitment to reforming immigration in a way that honored our laws as well as our immigrants and traditions.

And Barack Obama?

Obama did not stand up. Obama did not speak out. And when the time came for him to do the right thing, he did not.

Obama supported measures designed to insert a deadly “poison pill” to kill the immigration legislation.

If Obama didn’t even have the courage to stand up for immigrants, how can he claim to have the strength to change the way Washington works?

John McCain is ready to lead. Barack Obama is not.

-Disclaimer-

Paid for by the Republican National Committee.

www.gop.com

Authorized by John McCain 2008, Inc.”

During the Democratic National Convention, the eyes of the world will be fixed on one presidential candidate, Barack Obama. He is the “rock star” politician, “the face of the Democratic Party’s future,” and the “skinny kid with the funny name” who has ascended to the summit of American politics. His religious faith is both the fuel of all that he has achieved and the source of the greatest challenges in his pursuit of the presidency.

With the need to provide a fair minded and objective examination of the candidate’s faith, best-selling author Stephen Mansfield writes La Fe de Barack Obama (The Faith of Barack Obama, Thomas Nelson Publishers, published in Spanish by Grupo Nelson, September 8, 2008). In this new book, Mansfield provides us with the most thoroughgoing examination of the role of religion in the Democratic presidential candidate’s life to date. The author provides an analysis of Obama that is sure to surprise people across the political divide — and provoke widespread discussion about an issue that continues to be front and center in this year’s election. In La Fe de Barack Obama, Mansfield:

– Provides greater facts and details to definitively refute many of the most incendiary charges against Obama — including the ever-present “theory” that Obama is a “Muslim Manchurian candidate.”

– Identifies the key issues that may prevent Evangelical Christians from ultimately voting for Obama — and tells us how Obama is still attempting to connect with this constituency, often more successfully than John McCain.

– Describes the titanic shifts in how religion is playing a role in the 2008 election.

– Walks the reader through a moving account of Barack’s journey to faith.

La Fe de Barack Obama is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the Illinois senator’s spectacular leap into the national spotlight — and the role that religion will play in this year’s election and will continue to play in future politics and culture. As Mansfield writes, “In short, [Obama] is going to be a political and religious force to be reckoned with in American society, and both his supporters and his detractors are well served by understanding why.”

To read a sample chapter click: issuu.com/gruponelson/docs/lafedeobamacapi1

To view video click: www.youtube.com/watch?v=m423an3V1M8

STEPHEN MANSFIELD is the New York Times best-selling author of The Faith of George W. Bush, The Faith of the American Soldier, Then Darkness Fled: The Liberating Wisdom of Booker T. Washington, and Never Give In: The Extraordinary Character of Winston Churchill, among other works of history and biography. Founder of both The Mansfield Group, a research and communications firm; and Chartwell Literary Group, which creates and manages literary projects, Stephen is also in wide demand as a lecturer and inspirational speaker.

For interviews or reviews please contact Claudia Duncan at 615.902.1871 or by e-mail at cduncan@thomasnelson.com.

La fe de Barack Obama
Stephen Mansfield
Available at bookstores or Amazon.com
Book also available in English: The Faith of Barack Obama “