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Watch Barack’s speech on race in America and building a more perfect union.

Find out more at BarackObama.com.

In this article at AlterNet.org, Sean Gonsalves argues that the first responsibility of the president is not to defend the homeland, and that only one remaining candidate is up to the task of the actual first responsibility.

David Michael Green is a professor of political science at Hofstra University. In an article now appearing on AlterNet, he talks about the Clintons’ desperate need for power, and the potential for the right set of circumstances to lead to the birth of a real third party for the first time in 150 years. (And by real, I mean “with access to power and electoral validity on a national level.”) It’s a fascinating read.

Article: Could Hillary Bequeath Us Our Long-Awaited Third Party?

Today I donated $25 to the Obama campaign to help them meet their goal of 1 million donors by March 4. I’ve been lukewarm on Obama for most of this interminable election season, but recently my opinion has changed.

At first, I wanted to like him more. I wanted to be swept up in the frenzy. I wanted an RFK for my generation. I wanted to feel like people say they felt back in the late 60s when there were candidates with progressive agendas who spoke on behalf of real people. However rosy the glasses through which folks are looking backward, it still sounds far superior to any experience I’ve had as a voter, other than my own campaign for Rochester’s city council.

I cast my first presidential vote for Bill Clinton. I voted for him twice. I now think he was one of the worst presidents in recent memory. No, not for Monica, but for his ability to cover a conservative corporate agenda in the veneer of progressive Democratic respectability. From NAFTA and the WTO to welfare “reform” and the deregulation of the media, Clinton did an impressive amount of harm to regular folks.

Then, of course, there’s Bush. ‘Nuff said.

So this year, it has to be about putting a Democrat in office, if for no other reason than those Supreme Court justices who aren’t getting any younger. But there are other reasons, too. Getting rid of Bush and the Republican regime also means getting rid of all the cronies and sycophants and plotters who come with the package. That’s got to be a good thing.

Obama and Clinton aren’t that different on policy issues. They’re both much less progressive than I’d like. They speak a lot less truth to power. They’re still beholden to corporate interests, despite what Obama may say about not taking money from lobbyists.

But there’s one key aspect of Obama and his campaign that has finally convinced me to jump aboard the bandwagon:

Barack Obama inspires people.

I’ve never seen anything like it in my political lifetime. He brings people together from across the political spectrum. He makes people believe in their power to change our country. He gives them hope. Isn’t it time we had somebody like that? I think it is.

Obama is not a perfect candidate. Not even close. But he’s asking Americans to believe in our power — and duty — to rise above our past. Americans are responding. So is the rest of the world. I’m excited about the idea of waking up next January during the administration of President Barack Hussein Obama. The sound of it alone gives me hope.

So I’m recommending that progressive line up behind this campaign, and then work like hell to make it mean something when he wins.

If you want to get involved, the easiest place to start is BarackObama.com.

I switched to the Democratic party a couple years back, thinking it would provide a route to power via which I could help make change. I’m not sure it’s worked out that way. This article on how the Dems are committing “particide” helps explain some of the reasons why my strategy may fail.

I also recommend this video from the American Friends Service Committee on the financial cost of the Iraq war:

When was the last time you saw a major party candidate who inspired a video like this?

(The video below this one in the next post is good, too.)

This is both politically interesting and fairly compelling. The video is about 20 minutes, but worth watching.

Head over to the New York Times site and check out Sarah Vowell’s newest essay, “Radical Love Gets A Holiday.”

John F. Kennedy was inaugurated on this date in 1961. Robert Frost read a poem at the inauguration. He was planning to read a new piece called “Dedication,” but for one reason or another had trouble reading the printed poem. Instead, he recited “The Gift Outright” from memory. Here it is.

The Gift Outright

The land was ours before we were the land’s.
She was our land more than a hundred years
Before we were her people. She was ours
In Massachusetts, in Virginia,
But we were England’s, still colonials,
Possessing what we still were unpossessed by,
Possessed by what we now no more possessed.
Something we were withholding made us weak
Until we found out that it was ourselves
We were withholding from our land of living,
And forthwith found salvation in surrender.
Such as we were we gave ourselves outright
(The deed of gift was many deeds of war)
To the land vaguely realizing westward,
But still unstoried, artless, unenhanced,
Such as she was, such as she would become.

– Robert Frost

My friend Julie White has a great new essay on her blog, My 45th Year. Go read it!