Technorati Tags: Obama, Politics, Web 2.0

As it was written in the Economist several days ago, "it is impossible to forecast how important any presidency will be" nor can we predict how good of a president any politician will be.  In fact history has shown us that some of our finest presidents were mere novices in the political arena, or so we thought, while some of our worst presidents were seasoned professionals.  So In effect, no matter who we vote for today, we are all taking a gamble.

Recognizing that there is not much we can do about that aspect of elections, I urge you not to think of this election, or any other election, in that prism.  Instead, I propose that we think of this election, and all elections, as a responsibility and an opportunity. 

It is our responsibility to hold elected officials accountable, to hold the torch that was passed onto us by previous generations dating back to our fore-fathers, to tell the world that democracy is alive and well and is indeed the best form of government. 

This election is also an opportunity.  For some, it is the opportunity to correct the mistake from 4 or 8 year ago.  For others, it is the opportunity to re-affirm their beliefs from the same period.  For many, it is the opportunity to participate in the democratic process for the first time.  But for all, it is an opportunity to be heard; an opportunity to take this country in a different direction; an opportunity to make history regardless of ideology or background.

So today, I am asking you to vote.

I am asking you to vote for me and many others like me who won’t have the opportunity to be heard.

I am asking you to vote for our men and women in the armed forces serving abroad that won’t be able to vote because of archaic absentee ballot laws.

I am asking you to vote so that we can put people in office with the moral courage to deal with challenges facing our nation today at the national and local level.

I am asking you to vote so our generation may be heard.

Most of all I am asking you to vote because your vote, your voice, matters.

Some will dismiss my call to action as a gimmick to get people to vote for Senator Obama.  It is true that I support Senator Obama.  I do so for many reasons that others have penned more eloquently than I ever will.  And it is indeed my fervent hope that you do cast your ballot for the junior senator from Illinois.  However, this is not to say that Senator McCain will not make a good president.  In fact, I believe that he will be an adequate president or even a fine president.  Very few of us have served this country like he has over the decades.  Though I question his vice-presidential pick, I believe that he will take that same dedication and love for our country to the white house.  I did not write this to endorse any candidate running on any level, but simply to ask you to vote.

So I will ask again, please go vote.

The late Robert Francis Kennedy reminded us that "few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation." Today, your small portion is to go vote.

[picture by joecrimmings]

Technorati Tags: election 2008, McCain, Obama, Vote

Technorati Tags: election 2008, Obama

My take on it is – If I can’t vote (b/c I’m a permanent resident), why should you?

On the serious. Don’t forget to register to vote.  Use Google maps to figure our you voting place (it will include links where you register to vote in your locality.  If you’re going to be out of town, use GovoteAbsentee.org.

Tags: Election 2008, Obama, McCain, Google, Vote08

Technorati Tags: election 2008, Vote

SO ELEMENTAL to government is the conduct of elections that there can be no excuse for failure. It’s important, then, that D.C. officials not minimize the problems with Tuesday’s primary. The chaos surrounding the results suggests that there may be bigger issues that need fixing and that, if left unresolved, could undermine voter confidence.

The only good thing that came out of this drama is my debut on YouTube thanks to LooseLips Columnist Mike DeBonis.

On television we expect the Forum to be broadcast live, starting at 8 pm EDT, on CNN, Fox News Channel, MSNBC, C-Span, and selected PBS stations around the country (check your local PBS listings).

In addition, MTV will also stream the Forum live. To watch the MTV stream go to http://www.bethechangeinc.org/servicenation/live. Below the MTV stream, you can subscribe to the ServiceNation Kyte player for organic content captured by our mobile producers on the floor! They will be recording behind-the-scenes, exclusive footage throughout the two-day summit. You can also watch the stream on MTV’s website at http://think.mtv.com/groups/servicenation.

Enjoy the broadcast, and stay tuned for further details on how you can watch Day 2 of the Summit. We will be sending another e-mail, and details will be posted on www.servicenation.org. You can review the full program here: http://www.bethechangeinc.org/servicenation/summit/schedule.

ServiceNation is also the talk of the town on twitter.

More at http://twemes.com/sn08

Last night, I was nominated to go to DC board of the election to wait for the result of the primary.  I thought it  would be a cool experience/; so I accepted.  Another volunteer and I headed down there  for what we thought was going 30 minutes then off to the victory party.  Little did we know that the DC Board Of Election & Ethics (BOEE) complete incompetence would keep us there till the wee hours of the morning.  To make a long story short,  when first set of result came in, everything looked fine.  Evans was up 66% to 33% and .54% write-in with 14% of the precincts reporting.  When the second set the report came in, something didn’t add up.  Evans was up 48% to 34% and 17% write-in with 94% of precincts reporting.  The second set of numbers estimated that 9000 people voted in our Ward, more than doubling the numbers from 2004 ( a mayoral election).  Having walked around the city throughout the day, I knew there was a low voter turns out.  Additionally, we were not aware of any write-in campaigns going on in our race. Therefore, 17% write-in made absolutely no sense.  My suspicions were confirmed by Evans’ Campaign manager. We went upstairs along with Mara’s campaign manager and Schwartz’s campaign manager (They were having the same problem).  Meanwhile, The AP called the race, then the Post based on the AP the numbers.   Things went downhill from there.  Lawyers came, WaPo came, CityPaper came, Washington Times was called, I think the AP had take back calling the race and people at the BOEE just looked really really really really really bad.  The lawyers that were present requested precinct by precinct report.  The BOEE put out three sets of numbers after that but the damage had been done.  Everyone was dissecting the numbers and the whole thing was just a mess.

Needless to say, this was an eye opening experience for me.  I’m deeply troubled by the city’s inability to handle such a small election.  By all accounts, the primary in February had a much larger turnout and the city failed to properly handle that election as well.  As of this moment, I’m shocked, angered, and disappointed.  If I had any power, no one at the board of election would have a job this morning (except maybe nice security guards from last night).  I really hope Mayor Fenty and the rest of the council take a good look at this.  It’s ridiculous that the capital of the free world can not manage to run an election smoothly.

As of the writing of this post, we have not yet conceded.  we are waiting for the precinct by  precinct report and results from the absentee ballots (if they can count them correctly.)  I’m headed to NYC for the ServiceNation Summit with Senators Obama and McCain, more on what I learn in this campaign when I get back from NYC.

DC PRIMARY RESULTS NIGHT COVERAGE

CityPaper – Live from the Clusterfuck

BOEE “Official” results

Washington Post

DC Wire

DCist

p.s.  I did not cut my hair for the next POTUS… whoever he is.

Cary Silverman promises open, competitive bidding for all city projects and a fully Freedom of Information Act-able financial reporting system. And more accountability and transparency is exactly what this city needs.

Read the entire article here .  I wish they did this last week so we would have been able to take advantage of it a bit more.  But hey an endorsement is an endorsement.  That marks our first endorsement by  a local paper. 

Now for all your Ward 2 (which includes Shaw, Dupont, Logan, Mt Vernon Sq, Gtown, Foggy Bottom, West End, Downtown, Chinatown) Residents go out and Vote!

It’s a HUGE week here in ServiceNation. This Thursday evening, Sept. 11, our Sept. 11-12 ServiceNation Summit in New York City will open with a Presidential Candidates Forum featuring presidential nominees Senators John McCain and Barack Obama. They will share their views on service and civic engagement in post-9/11, starting at 8 pm EDT. CNN and MSNBC have indicated that they will carry the forum live (we are hoping Fox will too), so invite your friends and family over for a night of inspiring television.

The next day, the 12th, the ServiceNation summit continues with a gathering of 600 leaders from every sector of American society. The summit will release a bold policy proposal, and a Declaration of Service, which you can sign to declare your support for the idea that service to community and country can help unite America and solve problems. We hope to gather 1 million signatures (up, that’s 1 million!) on this Declaration, to show our leaders that America is ready for a new era of service.

I’m very excited for this event. I’m looking forward to hearing what both Sen. McCain and Obama have to say.  It should be fun, interesting and tiring.  I’m heading up to NYC on Wed morning for the forum (all my NYC people, holla me).  I will be part of the content production team but I’m not exactly sure how much freedom I will have to roam around.  Regardless,  I will be blogging (here and ChangeWire),  tweeting (BTC Tweet feed), taking pictures and possibly streaming (working out the details on that).  The full schedule of the event is at http://www.bethechangeinc.org/servicenation/summit/schedule (Sorry for the formatting). 

P.S.  The biggest dilemma if my life right now is whether or not I should cut my hair just in case I get to meet the next POTUS.  Feel free to weight in.

It’s down to the wire. Since June (actually a lot longer than that for Cary), we’ve been working hard to make the case to Ward 2 Democrats that it’s time for change on the City Council. We’ve had three debates; one in Foggy Bottom, another in Dupont, and another on the Kojo Show on WAMU. We’ve had tons of candidate forums, some at 8 AM and others at 8 PM. We filled out more questionnaires than I care to remember, attended neighborhood picnics, block parties, tenants association meetings and what seems to be every ANC meeting in the ward.  Supporters hosted countless meet and greet events as well as fundraisers. We played the endorsement game – got some and lost some.  We met some fun people, some interesting people, some skeptic supporters, some enthusiastic supporters and people didn’t care much for us. We’ve walked through part of the city that I never knew existed and rediscovered parts that I had not visited in a while. And of course there was the parade. Everywhere we went and to everyone we met, we made the case for Cary. I think we’ve made a compelling case and put ourselves in a position to win on Tuesday. With a strong GOTV effort, I believe that we can seal the deal. I’m very excited about the election on Tuesday. The only thing that would have made it better is if I could vote. Oh well, can’t have everything at once. If you’re registered to vote in DC, Vote Cary Silverman on Tuesday!

Technorati Tags: Cary Silverman, DC City Council, DC politcs, Ward 2