Obama: Servicing Service

This entire issue is nonsense. Serving in the military is not the only way to showcase service to your country or patriotism.
The fact that Obama graduate #1 from Harvard and decided to work as a community organizer for $30,000 rather then wall street shows character.

“extreme ambition”
I’m confused. Community organizers don’t make much. If he’s choosen Wall Street “extreme ambition” would apply.
How is it that one who graduates at the top of his class in the top school but choses to become a community organizer demonstrates “extreme ambition”?

What is the point of this article…..as a European I hope there is more to America than military, that is why I despair at McCains candidacy. He does not seem to have anything else to offer….and any criticism of him is abominable in the eyes of America. Gen Clark was on the ball with his comments about a guys whose view of the world and America’s role has been skewed by his POW experience

All of the Kennedys promote and seem to work in “community service.”
However, how many of them would be doing community service if they had to LIVE on the salary of community servants? 0.
Obama was just building up his resume, that’s all. Nothing impressive about it.

OBAMA HONORS SERVICE OF THE ARMED FORCES WITH ACTION
Barack Obama COSPONSORED the new GI BILL, that gives vets returning from Iraq and Afghanistan tuition at the university of their choice.
* * * John McCain OPPOSED the bill. * * *
Barack Obama wants to bring the troops HOME, many of whom have had MULTIPLE and extended (greater than one year) tours of duty.
These troops experienced day after day, month after month of the strss of being in a war zone.
* * * John McCain OPPOSED the bill to guarantee our troops would have equal amount time at home after each tour in Iraq * * *
A VOTE FOR JOHN MCCAIN == DEAF EAR TO VETS NEEDS

It’s resume padding, Vanessa. He had his sights set on the top job, not being the new Gordon Gecko. The difference is results. The Boston Globe article points out that his reallocation of the public funds for public housing were good for his contributors but disastrous for the community. He skips over the hard work and goes for the top job every time.
We get those kinds of guys in industry a lot. We sideline them until they move on. You’d be surprised how many people are out of work in this country because of Harvard grads doing what they do well: padding resumes and putting stockholders above employees and customers. Number 1 at school doesn’t cut much mustard when the degree is law or business but the business is computer science or car manufacturing.
Results matter.

Of course Obama left out Military service in his speech at Wesleyan, then people would ask” well, why didn’t YOU serve”. Now he is mentioning it because he is talking to veterans. Can you say “political opportunist”? And what does he do for veterans? Obama’s new ad says he helped support a bill that gets care for wounded soldiers, but everyone knows by now that he didn’t even vote on the bill. So, not only did he not take the time to appear for the vote, he has the audacity to LIE about it, using Veterans to his advantage. A fake, a disgrace, a liar….that is “change” by Obama.

Double Standard,
“Obama’s new ad says he helped support a bill that gets care for wounded soldiers, but everyone knows by now that he didn’t even vote on the bill”
=>As early as February 2005, Senator Obama warned of a shortfall in the VA budget. Four months later, the VA reported that in fact it had more than a $1 billion shortfall. Senator Obama cosponsored a bill that led to a $1.5 billion increase in veterans’ medical care. During the debate on the Fiscal Year 2007 budget, Senator Obama cosponsored measures that would have provided additional funding increases for veterans.
In January 2007, Senator Obama reintroduced the Lane Evans Veterans Health and Benefits Improvement Act to improve the VA’s planning process to avoid budget shortfalls in the future. The bill requires the VA and the Department of Defense to work together and share data so that we know precisely how many troops will be returning home and entering the VA system.
May be you need to get your facts straight first.

Let’s be real … making a mountain out of a mole hill. Most people do not think of the military as a form of community service as community generally refers to “local” services.
The Armed Forces are military service, a federal service, the motivations to join the military or to help the homeless or battered women, etc. are typically quite different. No better or worse in any case, just different.
As to military service – I am 50 – a college graduate from the midwest, and joined the Army in 1980. I can tell you that no college students or grads, other than college-aged ROTC / Resevrists were joining the Army back then in the “new” volunteer Army.
I wonder – how many of us commenting on Obama’s service or perspective in the military actually enlisted to serve? I bet few.
Dave in CA

To all who discount Obama’s experience community organizing as “resume padding”: try doing that yourselves and see how easy it is. Try even stepping foot in those neighborhoods, try communicating with those people. There is nothing trivial with working in economically depressed neighborhoods in the south side of Chicago, and anyone who suggests otherwise needs a reality check. The man has more intelligence and character than McCain has in one finger, and has achieved more on his own merits as well.

Two things: if Obama thinks people are going to believe he would have willingly signed on for Vietnam, he’s crazy. And the draft? More likely he would have run for Canada before allowing himself to be drafted.
America is going to need way more volunteers to sign up for our military since the Dem Congress passed the bill granting a full education package to vets no matter how long – or little – they’ve served.

Len, good point.
Obama was resume padding. Knowing that folks like Rezko were in the wings to help him out when he wanted favors and $$$.
Obama is a fraud and people are starting to realize it.

Hossiersue,
“America is going to need way more volunteers to sign up for our military since the Dem Congress passed the bill granting a full education package to vets no matter how long – or little – they’ve served.”
=> You sound like, you have a problem with the GI bill. Just like McCaine opposed it. It’s the most outrageous decision on Mccaine’s behalf to claim that he understands the soldiers and not even support a bill that would ensure our heroes that their time was not a waste. Your arguement about the time length spent in the army is even worse. Any soldier can actually die on duty nomatter how long he’s been in the army. The bigger picture is that the soldier is willing to put his life in harms way to defend his country. For any one to dicount that is what is UNPATRIOTIC!

You may also want to read the article on what else Obama said about an increase military

as a democrat i feel perturbed by obama,s lack of honesty and truth. he believes in saying things which have no real meaning except soothing the ears of voters. it is disgusting to hear from his mouth about faith based funding.
would he be willing to support anti american pastors. does he mean only christian faith or will he help minority faiths like judaism, islam , hinduism , sikhism and budhism.
his notion is like old lady that just believe in buying the services she needs.
to cover his lack of military service and doubt on his patriotism he went to gen . clark who in turn proved to be an idiot by questioning servicethe most honourable american hero alive today that is sen. mccain.
to please the center obama stole a leaf from bush,s book about faithbased funding, the same person he derogates all the time and blame mccain to be his shadow. may be tomorrow he will steal another idea from mrs clinton to please women voters, may be he will go and pray in different denomination places of worship to get votes.
THE TRUTH IS THAT HE WAS BORN AS A MUSLIM AND CONVERTED TO CHRIATIANITY JUST TO BE IN LINE TO GET CHRISTIAN VOTES. HE HAS EVERY RIGHT TO CONVERT BUT NOT HIDE HIS PAST. GOV. JINDAL WAS A HINDU AND CONVERTED TO CHRISTIANITY BUT HE DID NOT HIDE HIS PAST.
HE CANNOT MISLEAD AMERICANS FOR LONG BY JUST EMTY HOT AIR RHETORIC.
I AM A PR OUD DEMOCRAT WHO WILL BE PROUD TO VOTE FOR SEN . MCCAIN THE REAL AMERICAN HERO.
bhagwan deol los angeles

All good points but truthfully, none of us know what was on Barack’s mind when he signed up. The point is he did and good on him for that.
The volunteers for america issue is a distraction in some ways.
1. Volunteerism is alive and well in America. Visit the sandbag lines. Look at the church vans still heading for New Orleans over spring break and the summer. We are blessed doubly by our willingness to volunteer.
2. But the big immediate challenges can’t be done by volunteers. I don’t see a line of people with shovels fixing our highways unless we intend to repeat the means by which the first Autobahn was built.
Realistically, many challenges are only met by money to professionals and companies. How we prioritize and set the schedules for these, where we get the money and how we procure the needed services, these are things we need to talk about.
There is a lot that volunteers can do and I do NOT oppose the faith initiatives. Faith and the freedom guaranteed by faith is still our richest heritage. Yet we need to talk about how and where we are going to spend money and how we are going to get that money.

sounds like reinstating the draft to me

James Danley,
McCain OPPOSED the GI BILL. He said it was too generous to the troops returning from war.
Only AFTER it became clear what a jackass the man was making of himself, his staff put together McCains Do-Nothing-for-the-troops bill.
HE ALSO VOTED AGAINST THE BILL THAT WOULD HAVE GUARANTEED OUR TROOPS A YEAR OUT OF THEATER FOR EVERY YEAR DEPLOYED ON THE BATTLEFIELD.
A vote for McCain == A deaf ear to Vet’s needs.

Yoni, would you mind explaining your comment: “My problem is when someone uses the length of time served as a basis to deny the benefits.” Unless I missed something somewhere, I don’t see where anyone is denied benefits for length of time served. Sen. McCain’s bill would have increased benefits with additional time served.

We’ve had a president with a C average for the past 8 years do we honestly want another who offers the same policies but worst graduated 894 out of 899…not even in an ivy league school.

There are only two words that accurately describe Sen. McCain’s policies and judgement – OLD and WEAK accordingly!

Has John McCain ever worked with the unemployed, like Barack Obama did with those displaced by the closure of steel plants on Chicago’s south side?
NO.
What does he and his $750,000 credit card wife know about the concerns of hard working, middle class Americans?
NOTHING.

obama, is setting the stage of a way to make it more appealing for minorities and poor people to go into the military.
all of this talk about obama and his grades at harvard, so what if he is an a,b,c or d student.
the us education system has FAILED the young people coming of age in this election year, so what will obama have them do, make military service profitable for them, there are no jobs, so go into the military.
with mccain or obama as president,(and you supporters of each of them will stay in denial to the very end.)
the handwriting is on the wall, and becoming clearer each day, with either of these two as president, the american people are going to suffer.
and to say either obama or mccain “have to be better than bush”-is really not saying anything to THEIR CREDIT.
you who use that as a defense of your guy-when you think about it-you should drop using that.
ANYONE would have been better than bush.

John’s conscience, Sen. Webb’s GI Bill gives lowered benefits to any member, active or reserve, who has served at least 3 months on active duty since 9/11/2001. Between three months and three years service there is a gradual increase in benefits until one has reached three years of service. The MAXIMUM benefits are given for service of a minimum of 3 years. Four years of college for three years of service (and four years of college for 20 years of service). While this may encourage enlistment into the military, it will ALSO discourage re-enlistment. If you have a 10% increase in enlistments only to see 50% of those enlistees NOT re-enlisting after three years, THAT would require additional training costs for boot camp to replace the 50% not re-enlising. The effectiveness of the military will eventually be diminished greatly since the majority of the military personnel will one day be under three years of service. THIS GI Bill could be the death knell of the military.

By John’s conscience basis, I am supposing he was against John Kerry? He had a rich wife too.
John’s conscience loses again.

This is also nonsense so did all of the people who call obama unpatriotic serve in the millitary? DO I hate my country because I didn’t join the army?
Well some of you will say yes but those folks are stupid…
Once again there are some people who just simpley hate obama. The man could be the perfect canidate and people would still hate him. This works both ways though, but it just seems since Obama is the “new” guy alot more people, at least on this website, drink a full glass of hater-aid before they post.

john’s conscience:
“Has John McCain ever worked with the unemployed, like Barack Obama did with those displaced by the closure of steel plants on Chicago’s south side?”
__________________________
Where DID you come up with the idea that Obama did ANYTHING for the people of Chicago which did not line HIS pockets.. or the pockets of his questionable associates and his wife’s employer…. or compute in his mortgage deductions…. first?
Six years of nothingness out of him for his constituents in Chicago…..until the intervention of Emil JOnes and his kingmaker skills and heavy parcels of pre-worked legislation given him to pass in his name as a push up the political ladder.
… as for B O’s days as a street organizer in Chicago….. have you ever SEEN the streets of Chicago?
Give it up!
B O is just another dirty Chicago politician with a new look!

Obama’s idea of change:
“We can’t just drive our SUVS, eat as much as we want, and have our homes at 72 degrees at all times and expect the rest of the world to be okay with that”
That’s what Obama means by change. Of course he lives in a 6 bedroom/5 bath mansion and he’ll live as he wants, but YOU the masses must change.
If you vote for Obama, you’re a fool.

amy don’t worry all these ads will be thrown back at Obama as a flip flopping waffler during the General Election.

Obama has alot more to win on than a “bad mood toward republicans” and if you can’t figure that out I wish you were not allowed to vote. GO compare Mcsames policy with BO and then decide who is better suited. I tell you it IS NOT Mccain, Captain Flop, or Mcsame, Bush 3 whatever you want to call him.

Obama lost me when he backed out of the public campaign financing pact he made with McCain. This makes Obama no different than any other politician. And if he’s the same, then I’ll vote for the one with more experience.

Money is not what makes you elitest. It’s attitude.
There is nothing elitest about Bush or McCain.
Obama and his wife and friends & associates are elitests through and through.
Nice try though, but you lose again.

Obama is a marxist. And his college writings prove it.
Nice try though, but you lose again.

carolyn,
Your so called “research” is nothing more than NeoCon bloggers.
But according to my research, McCain was brainwashed by the Soviets during his time in captivity. That is why he blinks his eyes so much. He is signaling this captors and has been programmed to start WWIII.

Hey Jo,
There are NO McCain signs anywhere here. People are too embarassed to put them up.

Fired up, they’re just not sign people I guess.
However having a sign up and THEN taking it down is significant.
It shows people are learning about the fraud and changing their minds.
You lose again!
Next.

“I believe when you apply for a job, you need to know what you’re doing”
Obama 2004
When asked if he’d run for president in 2008
We agree Obama. By your own words you’re not ready!
Whooo hooooo! Imagine that admission in a campaign ad! It’s on video!
LOLOL

Other than the military, what are JM’s credentials? What has he really done in all those years in the Senate? Likeable guy I guess but not much substance.

Jerry, if McCain isn’t qualified than what does that make Obama? REALLY unqualified.
McCain has years of experience on the senate armed force committee.
Obama did what? community service?
Obama would make a good ambassador. President? No thanks. No way.
And military service is NEVER a liability.

We admit it. We’re stupid. We’re as blindly loyal to Obama no matter what – just as the Bush fans are.

Conservative:
Favoring traditional views and values; tending to oppose change.
Traditional or restrained in style: a conservative dark suit.
Moderate; cautious: a conservative estimate.
Of or relating to the political philosophy of conservatism.
Belonging to a conservative party, group, or movement.
Thats why they hate Obama!

So what you will get and it is pretty clear just on these posts. Are people who are scared of change= conservatives
and people the relize something has got to give and have the courage and strength to make it happen= Liberal/progressives/brave conservatinves.
So you have scared consevatives that just shout acusations and name calling. It’s ok don’t be scared. LOL!!!
You know that movie poltergist Mcsame looks like the creepy guy that tries to get caroline.. Don’t go to the light!!

Oops I just checked and I have an SUV in the garage, I just ate a great meal and my thermostat is on 72.
Oh nooooo! I forgot to ask the rest of the world for permission!!!
don’t arrest me Obama….PLEASE!!!!
Lol.

James Danley,
The Webb/Hagel G.I bill which passed the Congress and is currently with Pres. Bush who has not only said he will sign it but has now taken credit for he and McCain on its passage even though neither ever got on board.(He creditted Webb but neglected to credit Hagel)The bill includes educational benefits to G.I with service >= 3 years AND allows transfer of educational benefits to spouse and children of G.I. with increased service.

bhagwandeol-
You don’t sound much like a Dem to me lol.
Barack Obama said that the needs to address poverty, and other social needs exceed the government’s ability to address alone and that it is reasonable to leverage faith-based and other NGOs (non-government organizations). He seeks to improve upon the faith-based agenda of Pres. Bush by requiring enhanced accountablility, restricting of any of these federal funds to be used for proselytizing,requiring there to be no litmus test of religious affiliation for hiring or service for any faith-based charities’ activities within this program; This would be a significant improvement over the existing arrangement and would maintain separation of church and state issues.
As there would be no litmus test for religious affilitation, I would presume that there would be no restriction upon
which religious organization (Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Jew etc) was running a particular program as long as it legitimately addressed the needs and fulfilled the restrictions of no proselytizing, no religious litmus test
and was accountable. BTW: It has been established again and again that Barack Obama is not and never was a Muslim so you really need to stop beating that dead horse.

smith- Encouraging citizens to voluntarily serve in the military is not the same as reinstating the draft. To my knowledge, no candidate as stated that they would reinstate the draft; The closest any candidate has come is McCain who said when asked if he was concerned about the overextension of the military with maintaining wars in Irag and Afghanistan said that it might be so if we continued with an all-volunteer military.

Dear Hmmmm,
In other words, your response is that NO, John McCain never worked with the unemployed like Barack Obama!
Well, that doesn’t surprise me at all. He and his 750,000 dollar credit card wife have NO IDEA of the challenges faced by the middle class.
BUT JOHN MCCAIN HAS TOTAL EMPATHY FOR CHARLES KEATING!!!
BTW, my original question refered to Obama’s experience as a community activist, before he received his law degree, before he became a state senator.

There are so many sides to Senator Obama’s mouth, the expression, “he speaks out of both sides of his mouth” is inadequate to capture the inexorable political manipulations of this obvious poseur.