MOST RECENT UPDATE:
It is official: Obama is the next president of the United States of America. He is perhaps the most inspirational speaker since JFK--maybe even more so. But the fact remains, like anyone who is a catalyst for great change, so brings with him the potential for great danger. Whether he be black or white--or maybe a little of both--he is a catalyst for great change, and therefore an obvious target to prevent that change from occurring. The Secret Service can protect him only so much. They can not guarantee his safety at all times. Only we can. Please--whether it be through prayer, or focused, intentional visualization--please see him and his family protected, for the next four years...and beyond.

RECENT UPDATES:
Does Obama want to take your guns away? Is he a Muslim? Was he sworn into office on the Quran? Does he refuse to say the pledge of allegiance? Did he have a photograph taken of him holding a telephone upside down? Does he fit the descriptions in the Book of Revelations for being the Anti-Christ? These rumors and more are addressed about him on his own website, FightTheSmears.com, as well as on Snopes.com, a non-partisan website that verifies or debunks almost any rumor under the sun, including the rampant email rumors that are spread about him like wildfire. Know the slanders, get the facts, and if you know anyone that wonders about Obama's character because of these false rumors, please refer them to these sites.

Check out my website, www.HelpBarackWin.org for way cool Obama pictures that you can put onto your profile!

If anyone ever tells you that Obama is just full of empty rhetoric with no real plans, no real substance, have them click on this sentence and read Obama's "A New Strategy for a New World."

MORE RECENT UPDATES--EXPERIENCE:
Earlier on in this race, McCain talked a lot about experience, and how important it is. So let's talk about experience. Specifically, the total number of years of experience each team has had on either the state or federal level: John McCain has approximately 26 years experience as a congressman, while Sarah Palin has about 2 (two) years experience being the Governor of Alaska, which gives their ticket a total of 28 years of experience. Barack Obama has approximately 12 years experience as a State and U.S. Senator, while Joseph Biden has 36 years experience being a U.S. Senator, which gives their ticket a grand total of 48 years of experience on either a state or federal level. So if experience is as important as McCain has stated, then which team is the most qualified to run this country? And even more so, because of McCain's age, voting for him could well mean that you would really be voting for Sarah Palin, who actually has less than 2 years total experience on a state or federal level. As great of a person as she may be, I must ask: Is she really qualified to run this country?

About Me:
Hi. My name is Craig. As an avid Obama supporter, I have set up this profile to give other supporters new ideas and simple things that they can say and do that could really make a difference to help Obama win. You know, when Barack started his campaign run, he had far less supporters than Hillary. But the one thing that I believe was the single biggest reason why he is now ahead of Hillary is the proactive and enthusiastic role that the Obama supporters have taken to spread the word and to make a difference. I hope that what I present here--simple things that we can say and do--will inspire even more supporters to get proactive, so that we will see him through to the day when he will raise his hand and say those famous words that 44 others before him have said, beginning with the phrase: "I do solemnly swear..."

Note: This is a work in progress, so check back often. And if you have any good ideas that I can add to this profile, please let me know!

Thank you Hillary!
First off, I would like to thank Hillary Clinton for supporting Barack Obama and doing what she can to help Unite the Democratic Party. Being willing to do this, after doing a gruelling, sixteen-month campaign, spending millions of dollars and giving her sweat, toil, and tears...shows how dedicated she is to making sure a Democrat wins the most important office of our nation this year.

This website is dedicated to helping people do what they can to help Barack Obama become the next president of the United States. It will be focused on giving information and ideas of what to do to help swing various groups of people to vote for him. These groups include: Dedicated supporters of Hillary Clinton, Republicans who may not be satisfied with John McCain, Undecideds and Independents, Supporters of Ron Paul, the Youth vote...and those who don't care.

This website isn't just about me giving you good ideas. It is about all of us pooling our resources together to have the greatest impact possible. So if you have any ideas that you think could be a good addition here, let me know. We are doing this together.

DEDICATED SUPPORTERS OF HILLARY CLINTON:

I cannot stress enough how important it is that we all be courteous, understanding, and allowing of these people. It is so easy to only see our differences that we have with other people, and forget the bigger picture that we are more alike than we realize. This doesn't just apply to Hillary supporters and Obama supporters...it applies to the whole world. As Barack has said so eloquently in his book, The Audacity of Hope, we all have the same values; we all have the same desires of peace, prosperity, freedom, love and happiness. All of us. We only have different ideas of how we think we can accomplish them.

With that said, I am going provide some information that could help sway their vote, but understand that a lot of them are bitter and disappointed right now, so don't try to ram this down their throat. If you know any who are this way, use your discernment to know when it will be an appropriate time and they will be more open to listening.

POPULAR VOTE:
During the grueling presidential primaries, Hillary had made claims that she had the lead in the popular vote. Yet in order to do that, she had to do it in one of two ways: Counting both Florida and Michigan, and giving zero votes for Obama in Michigan; or counting FL and MI fairly, but not including the estimated results from Iowa, Nevada, Maine, and Washington.

The following information is not to aggravate any of Hillary's supporters. There are those out there who sincerely believe that she unfairly lost. The popular vote was close, but it is very hard to get a real accurate count due to Michigan and because of the four above-mentioned states that did not give out official results. I think that the most accurate way to determine a true vote count is to divide up the delegates fairly state-by-state according to the popular vote in each state. I calculated this to 1/100th of one delegate for both Hillary and Barack, and tried to make it as fair as possible for both sides. Please refer to my blog, "The Final Tally: Did Obama Luck Out in the Delegate Count?" for the results and details of how it was done.

Here are some other things that Hillary supporters may not be aware of:

ROE V. WADE:
The Supreme Court is precariously balanced between the so-called liberals and conservatives right now. There are a few of the 9 justices who are looking like they may be replaced soon, and they are all liberals. If McCain were to win, and he replaces just one liberal Supreme Court justice with a right-wing conservative, Roe v. Wade could be overturned, and women's right to choose would be lost.

EXPERIENCE:
Many people believe that Hillary has more experience than Barack. While it is true that being First Lady of the White House for 8 years could be very helpful, in terms of legislative experience, Barack has had over 11 years between the U.S. and Illinois State Senate, while Hillary has had only 7 years as a U.S. Senator.

AGE:
If you know any Hillary supporters who think he is too young, gently let them know that he will be older than Bill Clinton was when he was first elected as president of the United States.

SENIORS:
It is a known fact that Hillary attracted more of the older vote than Obama. One thing that many people do not know about Obama is that as president, he intends to eliminate the income tax for all seniors making less than $50,000 per year. For more details, see: http://www.BarackObama.com/issues/socialsecurity/

ORIGINALITY:
The idea that he is not original hasn't come up in a long time, but probably still lurks in the minds of some. Unlike most politicians, Barack writes almost all of his speeches. They are his own words, and the words that he was accused of plagiarizing way-back-when were actually his friend's, who had suggested to him that he should use them.

If you have any other thoughts or ideas to add to this section, please let me know.

UNSATISFIED REPUBLICANS, INDEPENDENTS, AND YOUNG PEOPLE:

One thing I want to be clear about. Though I will attempt to give reasons why I think Obama would be a better president, one thing that I think is very important to know and that we should all try to remember: That ultimately, we are all on the same side. Despite our differences we all have similar interests in what we want to accomplish.

Though I disagree with many of his beliefs on how we can accomplish our common goals, I have the greatest respect for John McCain. He is a man of conviction, who believes what he says, and says what he believes. He knows what honor is, and has suffered for being stalwart to one's convictions. I have no question that he has the best intentions for our country. I also highly respect Cindy McCain. There are very few people in this world who have been as philanthropic and giving as she has been.

I hope that during this presidential race between two distinct parties, that we try to remember that though each may disagree with the other on certain issues, that ultimately, we want to accomplish the same things. I hope that we will remember that the fastest way to realize our goals is to work together, and that despite all of the differences we may have, we have much more that we share in common. We are all on the same side.

So whatever I might say about the issues John McCain believes in--like Barack has said as well--it is nothing personal on John McCain as a person. It is simply that I may have differing views on how I believe we can accomplish the goals that we all value and desire to achieve.

RUMORS AND RELIGION:
I think now is a good time to mention religion, as this will undoubtedly be a WMD that the slicers and dicers of this country will continue to use to try to divide us and to keep people from realizing that we are really on the same side. Barack has been accused by some undisclosed groups of being a Muslim...as if that were the most evil thing possible. There are Muslim terrorists, just as well as there are Christian con artists and Catholic pedophiles. There are "bad apples" in any group, and one shouldn't judge the religion by a few select people. Barack has probably stated that he is a Christian more than any presidential candidate has ever had to do in our country, but what if he actually were a Muslim? It is not which religion you believe in that is important. It is the intent behind what you believe in that is. The God of the Muslims is the same as the God of the Christians...is the same as the God of the Jews...is the same as the God of the Catholics. Not only do we need to unite and heal the racial divides that have in our country, but we also need to unite and heal our religious divides, as well.

Is Obama really a Muslim?

This video addressed many of the rampant rumors out there about Obama being a Muslim, not holding his hand to his heart during the pledge of allegiance, flag pins, etc. Unfortunately, the creator of it pulled it from YouTube. If anyone knows of any good replacements, please let me know.

Got a good smear email or video about Obama that someone sent to you? Report it on Obama's website, www.FightTheSmears.com

THE IRAQ WAR:
We are almost 10 trillion dollars in debt. In case you don't know how much money that really is, that is equivalent to 10,000 billionaires. In case you don't know how much a billion dollars is, that is equivalent to 1,000 million dollars. To put it into another perspective, it would currently take 9.4 million millionaires in this country to remove that debt.

It is a big debt. If we can't pay our debt, what will happen? If we don't start acting responsibly and deal with it, guess what? We won't own this country anymore. Somebody else will.

What is going to happen if we keep spending approximately $500,000,000 every day fighting this war for 100 years? I know that John McCain has recently changed his estimate and said that he expects it will all be resolved in four years. He also said that he is going to fight these "Muslim extremists" until we win. Personally, if he is intent on doing that, then I think that his original estimate was more accurate.

Where are all of these terrorists that we are spending $500,000,000 a day fighting to protect ourselves? In Iraq? Nope. Maybe Iran. Maybe in Syria. Or Libya and Pakistan. But not in Iraq. So why are we still there? And why does John McCain insist on staying there?

Our national debt is increasing more and more due to our attacks on other countries. And because of this, the threat of terrorist attacks upon our country continues to increase. If we continue to attack every perceived threat, or insist on being in wars that are destroying our national economy as well as our relations with the rest of the world, things will continue to get worse and worse for us.

If we are going to make real changes in this country, we need someone who isn't so prone to attacking, and is willing to talk with our "enemies" and to mend fences. That may not always work, but considering the costs involved both in lives and our resources, it is worth making every effort to pursue this course over any other.

The "Might is Right" mentality that John McCain and the Republican Party represent--the idea of being a bully and using force to intimidate instead of being willing to sit down and talk with our perceived enemies--this has not worked. That only angers people, causes more wars, and makes our own home soil unsafe.

EXPERIENCE VS. JUDGMENT:
Yes, it is true. John McCain has more political experience than Obama. And experience is important. But one can have all of the experience in the world, but it doesn't mean that you will make the right choices. More important than experience, is the ability to look at a situation clearly, and see it for what it is so that one can make the right choices. Experience can only go so far with that. Astuteness of mind is ultimately what will enable one to make the wisest choices.

Some say that Barack was not a U.S. Senator when Congress voted for the war, so he wasn't under enough pressure for his opinion to really count. Actually, he was under more pressure. He was running for Congress, and saying the wrong thing could cost him the election. Instead of remaining quiet, he got up and declared his position against the Iraq war...and that was at a time when public opinion had been swayed to favor the war through mass media and deceptive propaganda from the Bush administration's misinformation machine. This shows that not only is he not afraid to make a stand for something he believes in while under pressure, but that he is capable of seeing clearly, even when things are very deceptive. And that is something that--no matter how much experience you may have--you either have or you don't.

AGE:
Well, as much as John McCain does not think this should be an issue--it is. It truly does not matter to me how old a person is who is running for president. But what does matter, is that that president is of sound health and sound mind. At the age of 72, he would be the oldest president ever to begin his first term of office. In fact, no one has ever been elected to their first term while in their 70s. Ronald Reagan is the only president that has ever been older, when elected to his 2nd term of office at the age of 73. There are also questions as to whether he was suffering from early stages of Alzheimer's disease towards the last half of that term.

TEMPER:
I have heard often from the news media--and John McCain himself--that he has a temper. But I have never heard to what level or degree of an anger problem he has. That is what scares me. It is one thing to get angry from time-to-time. That is natural. It is another thing entirely if one becomes out of control to the point that they might do something dangerous. This is something that should be looked into deeper, and questioned why it hasn't been already.

OBAMA AND UNITY:
Obama has shown how much of a uniter he can be, and how so many different people from different parts of the country are rallying behind him. He has shown that he is able to work with Democrats as well as Republicans. He has also shown that he can help to bridge racial as well as religious divides that our country is still suffering from. He is someone who respects all different types of people, and regardless of their differing beliefs, is still willing to be their friend. Because of this, I believe he could be the ideal person, as president of the United States, to help bring unity to this country: racially, religiously, and politically...

One of the most impressive things that I have ever heard him say, comes almost casually, hidden in the middle of a paragraph on page 68 of his book, The Audacity of Hope, and I think it best personifies the kind of person that Barack really is. Talking about people's differing perspectives, and working with all different kinds of people in the United States government, he says: "...I am obliged to try to see the world through George Bush's eyes, no matter how much I may disagree with him."

That says volumes about who Barack really is, and what he can do for our country. We have been divided for so long, and have suffered because of it. When we have been united, our country has prospered. That is why Bill Clinton was a good president. That is why Ronald Reagan was a good president. That is what we need now, more than ever. We need someone who can unite this country.

HOPE:
Even though some people might think what I am about to say sounds like just a bunch of empty rhetoric, I believe the greatest reason why he could be the best president this country has had in a long, long while is because of the hope and inspiration that he can--and already has--inspired in millions and millions of people in this country, and across the world. One man cannot change this country. But one man can inspire a nation to change themselves.

I truly believe that genuine inspiration is the greatest single thing that a president can instill in a country, because if the people themselves can be inspired to have hope, and to live with such a bright outlook on life, then it will forever change them and the world that they live in...

I hope that these words may have inspired you. If they have, please use them in any way you wish: Share them, build upon them, add to them...do with them whatever inspires you to make a difference.
~Craig.

Together, we can make a difference…YES WE CAN!!!

Obama's Beautiful Mother...

Yes we can!

Yes We Can International:

Barack Obama on Iraq

"When you walk away, the same old politics wins everytime..."