Entries tagged 'John McCain'

Friday, August 22nd, 2008

An American Prayer

While the McCain camp tries to brandish the term “celebrity” against Barack Obama as a pejorative, true celebrities are showing their commitment to the cause.

The video above is just the latest supporter-produced video to go viral. Co-written by British songwriter Dave Stewart and U2’s Bono, the video features celebrities Forest Whitaker, Jason Alexander, Whoopi Goldberg, Cyndi Lauper, Barry Manilow, Joan Baez, Macy Gray and Joss Stone alongside regular Americans.

This part of Stewart’s written introduction to the song is particularly powerful:

This video isn’t so much an endorsement of Barack Obama as much as it is a celebration of all those who have picked up a sign, who have registered to vote and are working to make the world a better place. So as Senator Barack Obama ascends to the mountain top, let us not forget all of the others who for the past 40 years have sung anthems of change to make this moment possible.

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Tuesday, August 5th, 2008

Paris Responds to John McCain

A few days ago, John McCain’s campaign released an advertisement sandwiching Barack Obama between Paris Hilton and Britney Spears while a narrator talks about his status “the biggest celebrity in the world.”

The ad brought quick condemnation from a number of sides, including Paris’ mother, Kathy Hilton, who told the Huffington Post it was “a complete waste of the money John McCain’s contributors have donated to his campaign, … a waste of the country’s time and attention, … and a completely frivolous way to choose the next President of the United States.

Kathy Hilton and her husband, of course, have donated $4,600 to McCain’s campaign, the maximum allowed by law, all prior to the production of this ad.

Now Paris has her own response — a parody video that belongs aside Obama Girl’s “I’ve Got a Crush on Obama” for one of the best this election season:

EDIT: Having trouble embedding a non-YouTube video. Will try to figure it out later. For now, just click on the link above.

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Sunday, August 3rd, 2008

Ask What You Can Do…

It’s been 47 years since John F. Kennedy gave his historic inauguration speech in which he challenged Americans to give back to their country through service.

Now, just a few months before the United States elects one of two candidates who speak about the virtues of national service to the presidency, a group of service organizations have formed a new group called Service Nation to promote community service among the American populace.

The group’s first major activity is a summit co-hosted by Caroline Kennedy; Alma Powell, chair of America’s Promise Alliance; Richard Stengel, managing editor of Time Magazine; Vartan Gregorian, president of Carnegie Corporation of New York; and Bill Novelli, CEO of AARP.

The summit begins, in symbolically-appropriate fashion, on September 11, with a forum for Presidential Candidates Barack Obama and John McCain to speak on the topic of national service. The following day, the group will attempt to construct a “Declaration of Service” that calls for 100 million Americans to volunteer each year by 2020, up from 61 million in 2008.

The campaign has substantial bipartisan backing from big names–from New York’s Michael Bloomberg to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. And their goal is admirable–service has been an important part of my life and the efforts of Volunteers makes a marked difference in the ability of nonprofits to fulfill their missions.

While I wish Service Nation luck (and wish they’d throw me a ticket to the conference), I am concerned that they make a specific point that they do not support mandatory national service.

While the idea has its opponents, the idea of requiring all young Americans to give back to their country–through the military, Americorps, the Peace Corps or through volunteering–might actually have some legs this year, given McCain’s and Obama’s strong support of the topic.

We need more groups willing to take a stand in support of mandatory national service, not just more which promote more politically palatable voluntary plans. Nevertheless, all service–mandatory or voluntary–is laudable, and I hope that some of those that attend the conference on September 11 are open to pushing the issue.

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Sunday, June 29th, 2008

Change You Can Photoshop: Funny, but Worthless

So the McCain camp has released this new commercial. The good news? It’s creative and slightly entertaining. The bad? The best thing they have to complain about is that Obama’s campaign creatively altered the presidential seal for a rally.

More unfortunate for the GOP is that no one in the general public actually cares about the seal issue, particularly when McCain and his wife don’t pay their taxes.

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