May 08, 2008
Bonior For Obama
In announcing his decision to endorse Barack Obama, John Edwards' former campaign manager cited his ability to bring change and to inspire, to defend himself against attacks, his dedication to helping working families and his opposition to the war in Iraq.
David Bonior, a former congressman from Michigan, called 2008 a "watershed year in politics" and said this could be a big year for change, like 1932, 1960 or 1980.
"The American people want a new direction and want some fundamental change, big change I think," he said on a conference called hosted by the campaign.
He said Edwards' campaign was about putting people first and that Obama had proven he could bring the necessary change to Washington and would improve the lives of working families by standing up to Wall Street lobbyists and special interests.
The former congressman cited Obama's work as a community organizer in Chicago. He said the Illinois senator had inspired a movement, drawing new people into politics. "He's the first candidate that has brought a movement with him," Bonior said, adding that this election could be "transformational" and "history-making."
He also said Obama had shown courage in opposing the war in Iraq.
Bonior waited until now to endorse because he was "waiting for Sen. Obama to show me the fight that I wanted to see because it's gonna be a difficult" campaign with John McCain.
He said he had spoken recently with Edwards but that the former North Carolina senator would make his thoughts known when he was ready to do so.
When asked about Obama's difficulties winning working class votes, Bonior said the candidate had improved with that group as he moved from Ohio to Pennsylvania to North Carolina and Indiana and cited his support for the Employee Free Choice Act and on matters like a living wage and workers' compensation programs.
"I'm confident we're gonna have a champion for workers when Sen. Obama's president of the United States," he said.
Obama backer Tom Daschle, former Senate majority leader from South Dakota, hosted the call and began by saying Tuesday was a critical day in the race and Clinton did not get the big wins she needed.
"We feel very good about the momentum and the unique pivotal moment we find ourselves in now," Daschle said.
Daschle noted there were six contests left and he expected the race to continue through them all and said the long primary season "had been far more helpful than hurtful" for the party because of the enthusiasm that had been engendered and the "double and quadrupling of participatory levels in states" and the organizations that had been set up.
(NBC/NJ's ATHENA JONES)
Posted at 12:17 PM
Comments
Not sure what the superdelegates are waiting for. A sign from heaven? Maybe the signal from Hillary to overturn the popular vote.
Paul Kekai Manansala, Obama Blog | 05.08.08 01:26 PM
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Clinton takes Indiana by a ‘razor’ and Obama wins North Carolina by a huge margin. Nevertheless, Kentucky, Montana and West Virginia are still to come.
The Democratic race for nomination is still very much alive – and most likely to be decided by superdelegates
If you’re tired of waiting around for those super delegates to make a decision already, go to LobbyDelegates.com and push them to support Clinton or Obama
If you haven't done so yet, please write a message to each of your state's superdelegates at http://www.lobbydelegates.com
Obama Supporters:
Sending a note to current Obama supporters lets them know it's appreciated, sending a note to current Clinton supporters can hopefully sway them to change their vote to Obama, and sending a note to the uncommitted folks will hopefully sway them to vote for Obama. It's that easy...
Clinton Supporters too …. !
It takes a moment, but what's a few minutes now worth to get Clinton in office?! Those are really worth !
Sending a note to current Clinton supporters lets them know it's appreciated, sending a note to current Obama supporters can hopefully sway them to change their vote to Clinton, and sending a note to the uncommitted folks will hopefully sway them to vote for Clinton. It's that easy...
sheeba | 05.12.08 08:37 AM
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