A New Poll from Deaf Democrats — West Virginia Primary!!

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THE DEMOCRATIC DELEGATE COUNT — As of May 8th, 2008

So what does Obama need to do now?

by Bryen Yuko

There are some who feel that Barack Obama’s nomination as the Democratic Party candidate for President of the United States is all wrapped up now. Let me first mention that Obama himself has not declared himself the winner yet. In fact, this evening in a CNN interview, he stated that he doesn’t want to get ahead of himself as there are several states ahead which Hillary Clinton stands a huge chance of winning. And he called her a “formidable candidate.”

If Clinton does continue to win more primaries, then it will give the Democratic superdelegates a pause for thought.

Superdelegates… That’s the biggest problem here. The superdelegates have a unique duty to weigh in what is best for the party. They have to determine: A) what will perserve the party; B) what will best promote the goals and platform the party stands for; and C) who will be best suited to win the White House.

It is a serious quandary these superdelegates are facing. It is easy to say, “Well, the person who won the most votes gets my vote for nomination.” But remember — in the past several months, Obama, Clinton, and several other Democratic candidates were running for the party nomination, not for the highest office of the land. Running for the highest office is a completely different and separate campaign, with a completely different set of values to appeal to. In the presidential election campaign, you need to appeal to a diverse range of demographics, even to those with polarizing views. It is the crossovers that have traditionally won elections for a candidate.

Does Obama have what it takes to win the highest office? Possibly. He has amassed a large number of voters. But then again, so has Clinton. Combining all the votes garnered by both candidates makes this voting bloc a formidable challenge for Republican John McCain to beat. But when you separate these two groups, McCain stands a stronger chance. Again, the way to combat this is to appeal to crossover voters.

Many Clinton supporters have stated that if Clinton doesn’t win, they won’t vote Democratic in November. What happened here? Before the 2008 primary/caucus season began, many of us were saying we liked both candidates and that whoever won would get our vote in November. Now, we are asking ourselves, “Is this the time to vote for a different party?”

What the hell happened here? How did we end up dividing ourselves? Do Clinton supporters (including myself) really want a a Republican in the White House for yet ANOTHER FOUR YEARS??

The answer to that perplexing question lies in what is called a “mandate.” Those of you who are true political buffs know what I’m talking about. A mandate is what influences an elected official for most of their elected term. The mandate is you, the voter. Even though an elected official may be an independent thinker, he/she is still beholden to a mandate. The higher the voting percentage of a victorious election, the more powerful a mandate becomes which obliges a politician to move forth the programs he or she promised during their campaign. If a candidate wins with extremely high ratings, he/she is under a greater obligation to follow the mandate itself.

A prime example of the term “mandate” took place during Ronald Reagan’s second term as President. Typically, because a president is limited to two terms, their second term is referred to as a lame-duck presidency. They simply don’t have enough power to push through their proposed legislation because they’re no longer running for office again and thus not garnering continued popular support from their constituents. Reagan, however, was so immensely popular that even in his second term, he was able to beat back the “lame-duck syndrome” because he received a huge mandate during his landslide victory for the second presidential term.

Obama has an incredible mandate as well. He has the potential to push through a huge number of campaign promises. Possibly he could become the most effective president in history. However, I have my doubts on whether he can be effective in other areas of the Presidency.

But as this mandate grows larger and more divided, we see more people defecting from the Democratic Party in search of other candidates. I don’t believe that Obama and his followers truly see eye to eye. He wants to portray himself as a Uniter, and yet his followers have acted quite the opposite.

This Obama mandate, which consists of a large number of younger voters, has been seen disparaging other groups. Time and time again across blogs and news tickers, I see comments coming from Obama supporters that, frankly, scare the heck out of me. One of the biggest areas I see is disparaging older citizens. I have found to be bewildering and off-putting those comments against older citizens who have worked hard to contribute to this country.

I’ve also seen the same when it comes to religion, race, and so forth.

To build a stronger and more effective mandate, Obama needs to go back to his own loyal following and say, “Hey… what you guys are saying is not what I am about!” When I see comments coming from his followers that conflicts with Obama’s message, I get puzzled as to why Obama doesn’t go back to his own group and say… “Chill out already!”

And therein lies the crossover problem. As long as Obama’s mandate continues to act the way it does, and he doesn’t respond but rather follow along in order to get more votes, more of us start looking for other candidates to vote for, because we don’t feel that this group represents the core Democratic values we cherished and worked so hard to achieve over the years.

Obama has a lot of work to do in order to achieve a more cross-cultural mandate before he can win the election. I can vote comfortably for Obama as a person. I cannot comfortably and in good conscience vote for his mandate. And that is where many of us are today, and why there is this growing problem of defection.

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My Son, the Republican….Part Two

After reading some of your comments regarding the choices my son made, I needed to jump in and clarify a few things.

I am a registered Independent. I choose this because my issues are not ALL one party or another. I like the choices I make, because I believe in them, and want to make the most of my American Citizenship. If I’m part of a smaller, not yet powerful group of people, that is my choice. Come November, the election may boil down to the Independents who choose neither side but make their own decision on who they want to vote for, without having to follow the cattle call of an all-Democrat or all-Republican vote. This is not to say I think Democrats nor Republicans can think for themselves. This is just to say, I prefer to choose some here, and some there.

To that person who ASSUMED I didn’t discuss political issues with my son and his choices, I have to say this, shame on you! Making judgments based on what little info you have! My family has been politically active since as long as I can remember, and we have always discussed the different issues out there, including for me, my own Deaf issues. What we discuss in our family discussion is personal and belongs inside my own family. I simply made the choice to share this, because I felt we all need to show how diverse we are, and even within the close-knittedness of family, there are differences. THAT is the beauty of being an American, and I’m proud of it and of my son.

My baby brother is also a Republican, however, this year he has decided to vote Democrat. Anything would be better than another four years of Republican rule, destroying all things in the eyes of the world. It is because of Bush and his daddy’s cronies that we are suffering the worst economic times, as well as being hated, villified and in some places, killed because we are simply Americans. Am I jumping up and down because my brother made his choice? No, because I know it was a difficult choice for him, and I respect that.

What am I doing on this Deaf Democrat Blog? Why the hell not?!? They are a good group and I support them.

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Where is the Deaf Voice in Politics?

ANOTHER VLOG BY MELVIN PATTERSON…

Hello again…
I still believe that Deaf and Hard of hearing people will sit down and listen two presidential candidates (1 Democrat and 1 Republican)…. You have a question for that topic, other question for other question and you want.? [fade to black] This video will not playing at this time. Because I spoke with a Political insider through Video Relay service. During the discussion with him, I expressed my concerns, my vision, and my passion by seeing new improvement in relationship between the Politics and the Deaf (apply to all deaf/hard of hearing individuals). I asked him if he is the right person to discuss these concerns. His replied: “YES!”

After I discussed all my ideas, he heard all of them and understood. He asked if he can bluntly say two things open.

An Insider said, “First of all, Do we have any powerful Deaf group that can be identified by our politicians? None.
Secondly, None of Deaf groups that donated a lot of money toward presidential campaign.
My concern is that how do our politicians perceive of Deaf people? They would just say, they, Deaf/Hard of Hearing, are just People with Disabilities. Politicians often would think which laws that are associated/applied to People with Disabilities. Politicians probably would say in a calmly attitude, “Oh, its ADA (American with Disabilities), Education Act, and few others for these People with Disabilities.”"

I puzzled but gave an emphasize statement that we are Deaf and Hard of Hearing and we face common problems daily unlikely what other People with Disabilities went through.

An Insider said, “Yes but the point is that do we have a powerful deaf group that focuses on politics for the Deaf and tell Politician like this “We support you if you support us?”

[Silent... thinking...] I said, “We have several organizations…” “Specifically, which one?” Insider said.

[Silent... thinking...] I asked, “Don’t mind to give me an example of what group that can be identified by our politicians?” “Sure” He said. “NRA - National Rifle Association is known for a largest membership and support any president who supports NRA.”

A group of NRA cares of what they do with their guns at home. if something happens at home,
they are protected - you know. Or during leisure time, they can go out for hunting games. That group cares the Gun Right. If any President candidate who says, “I support NRA”, NRA leader would tell NRA members that this candidate is good cause he supports us and please vote him. NRA members will support and vote this candidate.

An Insider said, “Understand that once Politicans hear the name of NRA, they know NRA is one of powerful organization. They can identify that organization. So does the GLAAD - Gay/Lesiban Alliance Against Defamation.”

Any gay goes to work or apply for health insurance, they are protected by law. So if one needs an health insurance but denied because he or she is a gay/lesiban or discriminated at work. The group of attorneys wrote a law to stop that kind of discrimination. That specific law is designed to protect gay/lesiban and they are now seen as equal at any workplace.

So does the organization for Women. If men got handsomely paid and women got small paid, women protested it. Therefore, they got paid equally.

So does the NAACP - National Association for Advancement of Colored People. Anyone discriminated against them because of their color skin. No. No. They are all equal regardless what color skin is.

An Insider said, “Politicians can identify each powerful group and they know what they are but Deaf? Deaf is part of People with Disabilities and is protected by umm ADA, right?”

I said, “Oh… but the group…” An Insider interrupted and said, “Money? If this Deaf group has money to donate to one of our presidential candidates, all press members will be notified. Press members will ask the Deaf group to tell them what this Deaf group is all about, why should President candidate listen this group, etc. So does the Deaf has a large membership? Does it has money for donation ready? Tell me.”

I said, “Oh I see.” I back off a little bit and said, “I really want to have relationship with Politicians but I need to talk with the group of Deaf and Hard of Hearing people about it.” [Silent]

Do we have this group that support either Democratic or Republican and donate to one of them by say, “We promise to endorse you if you support us.” Something like that so President Candidate can announce to the public and say, “I support this Deaf group. I identify this group, I protect this group, I understand their passion, I know their goal and purpose, etc” Group of press member will spread the news about this Deaf group. Press member could say “This Deaf/Hard of Hearing donated a million dollars to one candidate.” Do we have this group? No.

Can we start a new group and name it?

My vision for every deaf/hard of hearing individuals to donate 20 dollars each because 20 dollars times 50 thousand contributors is 1 million dollars. I believe it can happen but… I need your help. Can someone take a lead by form a new group which we can earn money from the public? So if we have this kind of money, a leader of this group will ask candidates with a question “which one of you support us?”

Either party must say, “I support this group with a reason”. After we hear their reasons, we will choose one who we think is represents us. Once we chose one, we endorse one. A lot of reporters/anchors will let America know about us. We have a VOICE. We want new change. New change will give all politicians a new perspective of us - Deaf and Hard of Hearing people.

So… what change? Department of Homeland Security is important. If there is crisis, an emergency crew may ask us to sit down and wait but we are completely lost. Or there?s miscommunicate with Police. Its in cycle of problem. Repeat problem. Call attorney for help and accuse Police of wrongdoing but attorney couldn?t help us because police is powerful.. has a lot of political blackmail and case closed.

Education? Give a large fund to public schools but small fund for deaf programs.

So go on over one reason that is, a point of Communication issue. That communication issue, we face every single day. I want to see this to stop completely. Change it and start improving.

Do you know anyone who is eagerly to take a lead or other organization that is willing to add a separate fund that is designed only for presidential campaign. Announce to our Deaf Community that one is working on the relationship between Politics and the Deaf. Money shows we are serious and want one of presidential candidates to be seriously consider to represent us.

Please help us. Let me know and I will let everyone know. I will join you and help to fund it.

Please.

Thank you.

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Democratic Party Hears Deaf Caucus-goer’s Complaint Loud and Clear

Here is a very interesting article written by John L. Smith for a Nevada newpaper, Review Journal, about the problems faced by Deaf voters during the Nevada caucus vote.

ReviewJournal.com - News - JOHN L. SMITH: Democratic Party hears deaf caucus-goer’s complaint loud and clear

Obama Wins Wyoming & Mississippi!

After suffering a setback last week by losing Texas, Ohio and Rhode Island to Hillary Clinton, Senator Barack Obama rolled on to win two more states — Wyoming and Mississippi, slowly increasing his delegate lead over Senator Hillary Clinton. However, these two victories came in after a period of increasing mudslinging, which was most likely to continue until after the Pennsylvania Primary on April 22nd.

At the core of this mudslinging were religion, racism and sexism. For one thing, there was this persistent rumor on the Internet concerning Barack Obama’s being a Muslim or not, to which he kept denying. Then there was this comment by Geraldine Ferraro on Obama’s success only because of his race. And now the media was accused of a strong bias against Hillary Clinton only because she was a woman. All this made for a sorry state of affairs in our country.

Furthermore, some colorful vocabulary and terms have come out of this race already. First, Bill Clinton called Obama’s campaign a “fairy tale,” a comment that helped turn the tide for Obama during the South Carolina primary. Then came Hillary Clinton’s “3:00 a.m. phone call” commercial on TV, asking voters which candidate they would like to see answering the call. Next, everyone was buzzing about Clinton’s “kitchen sink” strategy where she vowed to throw everything, including a sink if necessary, to stop Obama’s momentum before the Ohio and Texas primaries. This caused an Obama campaign staffer to call Hillary a “monster” and was forced to resign over this comment. And now Geraldine Ferraro’s comments about Obama being very lucky! The examples of colorful vocabulary and terms can go on and on… This is definitely not a dull race!

Adding fuel to the fire, signs strongly point to the possibility of the Democratic race being undecided before the national convention. Thus the heat has turned up on the superdelegates to perform their role. One camp maintains that the superdelegates need to follow the will of the voters. Another camp claims that the superdelegates must focus on who has a better chance of winning the election, a role originally envisioned by the party elders when they introduced the concept of superdelegates.

What will happen next is anybody’s guess. Already several media reports have expressed hesitation and apprehension because the next primary taking place in Pennsylvania is 6 long weeks away and anything can happen in between. One thing we can count on happening is some heavy dialogue on what to do about the Florida and Michigan delegates. Will we actually see Hillary collect her “Monopoly Cards” just like what we wrote back on January 30th?

One cannot help wonder if the underlying social issues like racism and sexism have been simmering beneath the surface during the history of this nation, and now with this Democratic race, these issues are clashing head-on and blowing up, just like pus coming out of a skin boil. Maybe we all have reached a natural point in our history to conduct this dialogue, although it may have been long overdue! Honestly, for the sake of maintaining a two-party system, we need to resolve this so we can keep the Democratic Party strong and make it a viable force for future generations.

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Be proud of who you are…

by Bryen

I’m a Deaf man.  I also have Usher Syndrome, thus making me a Deaf-Blind man.  As a person, I’m proud of who I am.  I like who I am, and what I represent in the environment surrounding me.  My Deafness, my Deaf-Blindness later in life are all part of the building blocks that make me Bryen.

When I meet people, people know that I am Deaf.  It’s an undeniable truth, and one that I would never, ever want to deny.  It is what makes me Bryen.

So, I’m greatly puzzled by the reaction of the Obama campaign to statements made by Geraldine Ferraro, the first major female Vice-Presidential candidate in modern political history.  She stated, “If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman he would not be in this position.”

For some reason, this angered the Obama campaign, instead of pleasing them.

You cannot deny that Obama is African-American.  You cannot deny that Hillary Clinton is Female.  And you cannot deny that each of those qualities helped the respective candidate.

I find part of Obama’s appeal is the fact that he is an inspirational African-American who has overcome the odds of prejudice to become within reach of becoming leader of the Free World.  I find the same is equally true of Clinton, a Female who is within reach of becoming leader of the Free World as well.

I find these to be qualities.  Their experiences as an African-American and as a Female is what helped make them who they are today.  Just as my Deaf Culture is what helps make me who I am today.  I rejoice in who I am.

Ferraro made another statement today responding to David Axelrod’s call to have her ejected from the Clinton Campaign.  “Let me also say in 1984 – and if I have said it once, I have said it 20, 60, 100 times – in 1984, if my name was Gerard Ferraro instead of Geraldine Ferraro, I would never have been the nominee for vice president.”

I couldn’t agree with her more.  I remember the rush and thrill, as a young boy, attending a Ferraro rally in 1984 in Evanston, Illinois.  I was witnessing a defining moment in history.

As each of us evaluates and determines which candidate we cast our vote for, we examine every quality of that candidate.  Every aspect, every life-defining moment, every experience.   There is no way that your race, gender, religion, physical abilities, political affiliation doesn’t define who you are today.

Barack Obama is African-American.  Hillary Clinton is Female.  What a wonderful moment in history we are witnessing here.  Can’t we please rejoice this fact instead of being angry at those who have pointed this out?

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After yesterday, the Democrats may be unstoppable

By Bryen

In a little congressional district just outside of Chicago, the unthinkable happened. A congressional seat held by the previous Speaker of the House, Republican Dennis Hastert was handed over to a Democrat in a special election on Saturday, March 8th.

Yes, you read right. A strongly held Republican district went …. DEMOCRATIC!

Speaker Dennis Hastert had resigned his seat after the shame of losing control of Congress to the Democrats during the 2006 Elections. He resigned his Congressional seat on November 26th, 2007.

That led to a special election yesterday, March 8th to fill the vacancy, which pitted Republican millionaire dairy producer Jim Oberweis against Democrat millionaire scientist Bill Foster. Foster won 53%-47%. Nice!

This was an area considered heavily Republican. For a Democrat to take the seat away was no small feat, and may be a sign of the times to come in the 2008 General Election.

A total of $6 million was spent campaigning for this vacancy by both candidates. Of course, Foster has to contend with Oberweis again in November for the General Election, to permanently hold his seat for the next two years.

Who knows if this was really a vote against Republicans or a vote against Oberweis. Oberweis is something of a black-eye for the Republican Party. He’s a four-time office seeker, aka four-time loser, who gained notoriety in the 2004 Illinois Senate campaign by airing anti-immigration ads that had a racist tone to it. The same election period that eventually propelled Barack Obama to Senator.

Oberweis owns the Oberweis Dairy which owns a chain of milk/ice cream parlors and sells bottled milk in grocery stores the “old-fashioned” way, still in glass bottles that you return to the store for money back on your deposits. Since I saw those racist ads, I’ve sworn never to buy Oberweis products. No way I’ll be drinking that Republican Kool-Aid!

Since the Republicans continue to nominate Oberweis for election, there’s no way Democrats can lose those seats.

Bryen Yunashko is a guest commentator for DeafDemocrats. He also writes his own personal blog at ChatWithBryen discussing various issues affecting the Deaf community, including politics, technology, Deaf-Blindness and social/community topics.

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Hillary Comes Back Alive! Race Still On!

Well, well, well…. The race is still on!!! All because Hillary Clinton yesterday won Rhode Island, Ohio and Texas while Barack Obama won Vermont. This continues the saga of the “Comeback Kid”, now Part 2. An amazing thing about the primaries last night was that Hillary won Ohio and Rhode Island with double-digit leads. Furthermore, Hillary delivered another black eye to the Kennedy family by winning “Little Rhody,” home to Congressman Patrick Kennedy. Now this is 3-0, Hillary vs. the Kennedys, with the two other states being Massachusetts and California (home of Maria Shriver, a Kennedy granddaughter). There is something wrong with the whole picture for the Kennedys.

Let’s not fool ourselves… The race is still wide open, even though mathematically speaking, Obama maintains a lead, but a rather slim one. Now several political pundits are saying that we need to take another look at the Democratic race itself. While Obama has enjoyed a string of 11 victories, he has not been able to carry crucial states and battleground states. The only states of any significance he has won are Illinois, Missouri and Minnesota, whereas Hillary Clinton has already carried major states such as California, New York, and New Jersey, and also crucial swing states in a general election like Ohio, Michigan and Florida, and also other key battleground states including Arizona, Nevada, New Hampshire and New Mexico. We need to look at the “electability” issue again!

However, the media now says that Hillary needs to win Pennsylvania to stay alive in the race. What is the media’s problem?? First the media said Hillary would need to win Ohio and Texas with double-digit leads last night, which Hillary pretty much accomplished. Now they say this about winning Pennsylvania. Are we seeing a double standard at play here? Why are they giving Hillary a hard time? Why don’t they do the same to Obama?

Also, we are detecting a very disturbing trend. We first heard about this 3 weeks ago through conversations with friends across the country. Women have been saying that if Obama ends up being the Democratic nominee, they will switch their votes to John McCain. This trend has been confirmed last night by Pat Buchanan, a Republican commentator on MSNBC Hardball show, recalling a conversation with several Miami, Florida women who expressed exactly the same sentiment. On the other side of the coin, several exit polls showed that the Obama voters would not vote for Hillary if she became the Democratic nominee.

The dream that George W. Bush and Karl Rove had of establishing a “permanent Republican majority” now moves dangerously closer and closer to becoming a reality. Of course, we the DEAF DEMOCRATS editors cannot help wonder if it was Bush and Rove’s plan all along to put Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama together in a contest to really split up the Democratic Party? If so, this may explain this huge flux of cash into the Democratic race this year, at a rather unprecedented pace, so the candidates can destroy each other. Then the Republicans can run a cost-effective presidential campaign. This question will nag us all for the rest of this election year and maybe afterwards.

Several weeks ago, we the DEAF DEMOCRATS editors did mention in our article, AN OBAMA SWEEP, dated February 10th, that the race looked real interesting. We told our readers to get ready for a wild ride and to have their neck braces ready on hand. See what we meant by this?? This is already one wild and crazy ride!

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