I wrote this for my class and intends to send this to several papers in Florida and locally.

Sen. Obama, Yes. We. Can.

Is Sen. Obama insincere? Throughout the campaign for the Democratic nomination, Sen. Obama has touted that he alone can bring real change to Washington and to this country. One of the ways he said he would do this is by engaging the people to participate in the national discourse. In his speeches, he often mentions the words “we” and “change” in the same sentence. In one speech, he invited all of us to “take hold of the future of your country.” I only hope the senator is sincere about this message because it is a message that could truly change this country.

There are many measures of an engaged populace but I doubt there is anything that is more accurate and telling than voter turnout during elections. When people come out to vote, they obviously care. When people don’t come out to vote, they obviously don’t care. Examining voter turnout in the past 30 years will give a picture that resembles the latter scenario. For instance in 2004, during the hotly contested battle between Pres. Bush and Sen. Kerry, only 55% of the voting age population came out to vote. Last year, amidst the national debate over Iraq, only 43% of voting age population came out to vote.

Luckily for us, Sen. Obama appeared on the scene early last year. With his run for the Democratic nomination came the talk of engaging people. With his run came the theme of “Yes We Can.” Indeed, he did not disappoint. In Iowa, a historic turn out of voters took place. This was followed by equally historic voter turn out in the succeeding caucuses and primaries. No this historic turn out is not solely attributable to Sen. Obama, after all, Sen. Clinton won in four of the six states who have voted so far, all with record turnout.

Then came Florida. Last Tuesday, at least 1.7 million Democrats in the state came out to vote for their respective choices for the Democratic nomination. This turn out was equally historic. It was larger than the five previous state’s entire record turnout combined. Although it is true that Florida is a much larger state, the 41% turnout simply trounces the 35% turnout in Iowa, the 28% turnout in Nevada, well except for the 70% turnout in New Hampshire. This historic turnout is made even more significant considering that none of the major Democratic candidates campaigned in Florida or had any ground organization in the state. Of course save the few ads that Sen. Obama ran on cable during the last few days of the Florida campaign. Contrast this to the barrage of TV ads, retail campaigning, phone banking, and get out the vote operations that the first four states experienced.

What happened in Florida last Tuesday is truly the best example of an engaged electorate that this campaign has ever seen. It was a grass roots action. It was people like you and me coming out to declare that yes they care about the future of this country. It was sheer people power.

So I was baffled to hear that on the night of the Florida primary, when Sen. Obama was asked about Florida, he did not extol the good sense of Florida Democrats to be engaged, he did not extol the historic voter participation, no he did not do any of these, instead, Sen. Obama smiled. Or was it a laugh? Regardless of what he did, his campaign made his point. That night, his campaign sent a mocking message to the media: “Obama and Clinton tie Florida with “0” delegates.”

Sen. Obama was probably smiling (laughing) because his opponent, in spite of winning 50% of the vote in Florida, will not get any delegate. But to laugh at the impressive grass roots movement in Florida betrays his message. Yes the national party and the media might not take the Democratic voters of Florida seriously but what happened last Tuesday in Florida was exactly Sen. Obama’s message in action. Yet, because of politics, he readily dismissed the 1.7 million voters of Florida and their historic action.

So is Sen. Obama insincere with his message of engaging people? Time will tell. For now, all I want to tell Sen. Obama is that with or without you, “Yes We Can.”

London Times has the following news item:

The Times has, however, discovered state documents in Illinois recording that the Panamanian company Fintrade Services SA lent money to Mr Obama’s fundraiser in May 2005. Fintrade’s directors include Ibtisam Auchi, the name of Mr Auchi’s wife. Mr Auchi’s spokesman declined to respond to a question about whether he was linked to this business.

There’s one demographic that Hillary needs to target in a big way in the next few days. She needs to convert people who were going to vote for Edwards even though they knew he was not going to win the nomination. I think she’s doing a fantastic job of this by incorporating his campaingn to end poverty and giving him credit for introducing that into the race.

I think that there are other available votes for her as well. I think that Hillary has it in her to dig deeper within herself and find yet another voice. I’ve seen hints of it in the more intimate settings, but I think she can also use it when she speaks to larger audiences.

If I could give her one image to help her find that voice, it would be to imagine that there are 12,000 teenaged Chelsea’s out there in the crowd. These Chelsea’s are unsure of themselves and maybe a tad bit rebellious and doubtful of their mother’s wisdom. Her task is to inspire these bright young beautiful children to spread their wings and shine for all their worth.

What made me think of this image is the America/Amber video where Hillary spoke about advice that her mother gave her. If she could shape that into a stump speech…well, that’s just raw power that no one could match.