Last edited Sat Jan 11, 2014, 10:32 PM - Edit history (1)

And he endorsed Obama in 2008:

Another man who endorsed Obama on the road in 2008:

And at the DNC in 2008:

As did a former president:

His wife gave her support on the road:

And endorsed him at the DNC:

Obama accepted his party's nomination:

More to come...

John Kerry may be gradually persuading enough Israeli right-wingers that a Palestinian state is worth striving for
Jan 11th 2014 | JERUSALEM

FEW believed that John Kerry, the American secretary of state, would manage to haul the Israelis and Palestinians back into the negotiating room, let alone get them to discuss anything of substance. Yet six months since talks began, he may be able to present, within weeks, a “framework agreement”, after which final details must be hammered out. Diplomats who had mocked his dogged prophetic conviction now sound shocked by his progress. Rejectionists on both sides who quietly presumed that the process would collapse under its own weight now express alarm.

snip

Mr Kerry’s methodical midwifery may be paying off. His team of 120, including four generals, has almost as great a command of detail as do the Israelis and Palestinians. “What matters is a settlement, not lots of settlements,” says Mr Kerry.

He hugs the foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, a former firebrand who vilified Palestinians and was cordially detested by them in return, whereas his predecessor, Hillary Clinton, used to shun him. Mr Lieberman nowadays praises Mr Kerry for bringing peace closer than ever, and has turned the ten naysayers in his party’s parliamentary bloc into yes men. Yair Lapid, the finance minister, has come out strongly in favour, bringing onside his 19 parliamentarians, the second-biggest party in the 120-strong Knesset. Mr Kerry’s people have also courted the black-hatted Haredim, or ultra-Orthodox. All told, he has overseen a remarkable turnaround. After the election at the beginning of last year, a narrow majority in the Knesset would have shied from a negotiated two-state solution. Now, according to insiders, its members stand 85-35 or so in its favour.

That should give Mr Netanyahu room to move. But he is a party man, loth to leave the rejectionist Likud movement in which he was raised, whereas Mr Sharon, after deciding against the wishes of most of his fellow Likudniks to evacuate the Gaza Strip in 2005, simply set up a new party of his own. Mr Netanyahu remembers that his own coalition toppled him when he signed an agreement at Wye River in 1998 to withdraw from territory. In his own eyes he moved dangerously far four years ago, when, in a speech at Bar Ilan University, he flouted his party’s charter, which still promotes the vision of a Greater Israel, by embracing a two-state solution in principle.

http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21593478-john-kerry-may-be-gradually-persuading-enough-israeli-right-wingers

Love this freshwest, a great thread on SOS Kerry from the great state of Massachusetts.

I can't wait to watch that last speech of Obama's at the convention. It rocked.They are indeed friends~

snip~

I stand here today, grateful for the diversity of my heritage, aware that my parents’ dreams live on in my precious daughters. I stand here knowing that my story is part of the larger American story, that I owe a debt to all of those who came before me, and that, in no other country on earth, is my story even possible. Tonight, we gather to affirm the greatness of our nation, not because of the height of our skyscrapers, or the power of our military, or the size of our economy. Our pride is based on a very simple premise, summed up in a declaration made over two hundred years ago, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. That they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights. That among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

snip~

Yet even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us, the spin masters and negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of anything goes. Well, I say to them tonight, there’s not a liberal America and a conservative America — there’s the United States of America. There’s not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America; there’s the United States of America. The pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into Red States and Blue States; Red States for Republicans, Blue States for Democrats. But I’ve got news for them, too. We worship an awesome God in the Blue States, and we don’t like federal agents poking around our libraries in the Red States. We coach Little League in the Blue States and have gay friends in the Red States. There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and patriots who supported it. We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America.

In the end, that’s what this election is about. Do we participate in a politics of cynicism or a politics of hope? John Kerry calls on us to hope. John Edwards calls on us to hope. I’m not talking about blind optimism here — the almost willful ignorance that thinks unemployment will go away if we just don’t talk about it, or the health care crisis will solve itself if we just ignore it. No, I’m talking about something more substantial. It’s the hope of slaves sitting around a fire singing freedom songs; the hope of immigrants setting out for distant shores; the hope of a young naval lieutenant bravely patrolling the Mekong Delta; the hope of a millworker’s son who dares to defy the odds; the hope of a skinny kid with a funny name who believes that America has a place for him, too. The audacity of hope!

In the end, that is God’s greatest gift to us, the bedrock of this nation; the belief in things not seen; the belief that there are better days ahead. I believe we can give our middle class relief and provide working families with a road to opportunity. I believe we can provide jobs to the jobless, homes to the homeless, and reclaim young people in cities across America from violence and despair. I believe that as we stand on the crossroads of history, we can make the right choices, and meet the challenges that face us. America!

http://www.command-post.org/2004/2_archives/013937.html

The Audacity of Hope indeed, freshwest!

Caroline, daughter of President Kennedy endorsed Obama on the road:

As did her uncle Ted on the road:

Caroline introduced her uncle at the DNC at 2008 for Obama:

Another of the Kennedy family endorsed Obama on the road:

We have some great Democrats and there is more to come.

President Barack Obama walks along Dartmouth Street in Boston in the rain after meeting with Victoria Reggie Kennedy, the widow of Sen. Edward Kennedy, prior to Kennedy's funeral August 29, 2009. Obama left Martha's Vineyard to attend Kennedy's funeral.
CJ Gunther-Pool/Getty Images

http://gonewengland.about.com/od/massachusettspictures/ig/Obama-Martha-s-Vineyard-Photos/A-Sorrowful-Side-Trip.htm



Fabulous videos of Sweet Caroline, Maria Shriver and of course Teddy~

~the dreams will never die.

Will find more to document his life and campaigns tomorrow..
.

Who could miss a future president in that wonderful speech? I'd heard about this Obama before, but that was my first real introduction. Blew me away. Thanks for the presentation.

We can look forward to the coming State of the Union soon, too. I know some people think it's silly to love great speeches, but count me guilty as charged. I do. Without sincerity they fly like a lead balloon and wind up sounding, well... Republican. Sorry, I couldn't let that one pass! Meowww.

Shouldn't everyone be so glad that the President is far nicer than I am? Michelle is a lot nicer than me too. That's why I'm thrilled with both. And SOS Kerry. And all good Democrats.

Especially counting the delegates that were lined up behind Hillary become less and less significant.

Watching the polls every day for every state, and then the primaries themselves.

And then all over again in the general election.

Oh My God!

K/R

Thanks!