[Peace-discuss] The OTHER Obama meeting

[Rich]

--- braam <braamer at krausonline.com> wrote:

> Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2005 14:33:18 -0500
> From: braam <braamer at krausonline.com>
> To: Rich <xxx36148 at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Obama Thing
> 
> Rich,
> 
> Thanks for the effort to contact us, we are bent on leaning our 
> representatives, especially those we generally support and that
> are, 
> more than less, on our side. Our group is nascent, two meetings,
> but 
> we’re motivated. Your web site looks great, you can contact us
> through 
> this e-mail address or check into our yahoo server at: 
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/potluckdemocracy/
> 
> What follows is my account of our meeting with the Senator. They
> must 
> have gotten wind of our intent to protest and we were invited to
> speak 
> to Mr. Obama via e-mail. So we did both, demonstrating and
> negotiating.
> 
> I’ll keep an eye on your site, let me know about events our group
> might 
> be interested in. There are four of us driving out to Washington
> and we 
> are staying till after Monday’s action, leaving then, upon release.
> 
> Bob Braam
> 
> Manhattan, IL
> 
> There were where twelve anti-war protesters at the Obama Birthday 
> Fund-raiser on August 18, at the Holiday Inn in Matteson, IL. We
> handed 
> out fliers that gave an account of the costs of this
> invasion/occupation 
> to the paying attendees as they entered the building. By a prior 
> agreement, after and hour or so, we were asked into the hotel to a 
> private conference room to speak to the Senator.
> We sat at a table covered with a nice white tablecloth, offered
> iced 
> water and chatted with Mr. Obama’s political director and one of
> his 
> public relations staff. Senator Obama was shown into the room after
> a 
> few minutes walked around the table asking everyone’s name and
> shaking 
> their hands. When everyone was seated I asked Mr. Obama why it was
> that 
> a mother of a fallen solider had to leave her home, travel to Texas
> and 
> camp outside of the Fancy-Pants Ranch in order to try to get an
> answer 
> from the President as to why her son was killed. I asked where are
> her 
> representatives? Her Congressman? Her Senators? Where are they on
> this 
> war? Then I asked the Senator where was he.
> Mr. Obama said that Cindy Sheehan shouldn’t have to be camping in
> Waco. 
> He said that Barbara Boxer has been one of the most out spoken
> Senators 
> against this war. He said that his position has not changed, that
> he as 
> always thought the invasion a mistake, “stupid” he called it. The 
> Senator set to assure us that he was doing everything possible to 
> assuage the disaster that is this occupation. He explained that the
> 
> minority position of his party imposed limitations as to the 
> effectiveness of his efforts. He told us that everyday he pondered
> the 
> possibilities for solutions, that he was dedicated to the
> implementation 
> of those viable.
> He spoke in particular about the campaign to develop regulations on
> 
> interrogations, calling the Abu Ghraib abuses, "torture". He spoke 
> knowledgably about the fractions in Iraq, on the dynamic the
> disparate 
> groups created. He spoke on the merging Iraqi Constitution and his 
> dissatisfaction concerning its provisions to ensure rights of
> women. The 
> Senator confided that he has a difference of opinion with those who
> 
> demand that our troops come out now, that stability is the goal
> before 
> an international contingent could conceivably replace coalition
> troops 
> in a peace keeping capacity. One of our number asked about
> cooperation 
> from the region’s other countries, Mr. Obama said nobody wants to
> touch 
> the “mess”, and cited Egypt and Saudi Arabia, in particular, as
> poor 
> choices for potential partners. He emphatically said he is against 
> permanent US. bases in Iraq.
> A member of Code Pink asked why Mr. Obama did not emphasize
> publicly the 
> Downing St. Memo revelation, she, who drove all the way from the 
> northwest side of Chicago, said that she had been disappointed. The
> 
> Senator called it “old hat”, that the memo revealed nothing new,
> that we 
> already knew what the memo proved, that it was an additional piece
> of 
> evidence in a trial with a long since rendered verdict.
> The Senator magnanimously gave us a good chunk of time as his
> birthday 
> celebration carried on with out him, but eventually he had to
> excuse 
> himself, we gave him his birthday card, signed by those there,
> which, 
> I’m sure, is going to adorn some library some day, and he left the
> room.
> 
> I have created this account, stitching together the fragments of my
> 
> tattering memory, in the hope of giving an accurate depiction of
> the 
> Senator’s position. I have paraphrased most and neglected some of
> what 
> Mr. Obama had to say, but I believe I have been fair to the man.
> 
> b.
> 


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