Obama: An American Against Prosperity

At a recent fundraising event, not only did President Obama state that prosperous Americans don’t “need” to keep so much of the money they earn, he also attacked the group Americans for Prosperity. It wasn’t just an off the cuff remark, either. He devoted several paragraphs of his speech to disparaging the group, trying to make them sound like the arm of shady foreign corporations out to destroy the American dream. He even threw in another dig at the Supreme Court.

"Right now all around this country there are groups with harmless-sounding names like Americans for Prosperity, who are running millions of dollars of ads against Democratic candidates all across the country. And they don’t have to say who exactly the Americans for Prosperity are. You don’t know if it’s a foreign-controlled corporation. You don’t know if it’s a big oil company, or a big bank. You don’t know if it’s a insurance company that wants to see some of the provisions in health reform repealed because it’s good for their bottom line, even if it’s not good for the American people.

A Supreme Court decision allowed this to happen. And we tried to fix it, just by saying disclose what’s going on, and making sure that foreign companies can’t influence our elections. Seemed pretty straightforward. The other side said no.

They don’t want you to know who the Americans for Prosperity are, because they’re thinking about the next election. But we’ve got to think about future generations. We’ve got to make sure that we’re fighting for reform. We’ve got to make sure that we don’t have a corporate takeover of our democracy."

A long list of Obama supporters {this list is partial}

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Barack_Obama_presidential_campaign_endorsements,_2008

Governors

Janet Napolitano, Arizona
Rod Blagojevich, Illinois
Chet Culver, Iowa
Kathleen Sebelius, Kansas
Deval Patrick, Massachusetts
Tim Kaine, Virginia
Christine Gregoire, Washington
Jim Doyle, Wisconsin

Anibal Acevedo Vila, Governor of Puerto Rico
John de Jongh, Governor of US Virgin Islands

Cecil Andrus, former Governor of Idaho
Richard J. Codey, NJ Senate President and former Governor of New Jersey
John J. Gilligan, former Governor of Ohio
Jim Hodges, former Governor of South Carolina
Philip H. Hoff, former Governor of Vermont
Tony Knowles, former Governor of Alaska
Ray Mabus, former Governor of Mississippi
Mark White, former Governor of Texas

Mayors

John Duran, West Hollywood CA
John DeStefano, New Haven CT
Shirley Franklin, Atlanta GA
Robert Reichert, Macon GA
Frank Cownie, Des Moines IA
Dave H. Bieter, Boise, ID
Richard Daley, Chicago IL
Sheila Dixon, Baltimore MD
R.T. Rybak, Minneapolis MN
Bill Bell, Durham NC
Chris Beutler, Lincoln NE
Mike Fahey, Omaha NE
Jun Choi, Edison NJ
Jerramiah Healy, Jersey City NJ
Corey Booker, Newark NJ
Mark Mallory, Cincinnati OH
Frank G. Jackson, Cleveland OH
Michael Coleman, Columbus OH
Donald Culliver, Mansfield OH
Jay Willians, Youngstown OH
Daniel McKee, Cumberland RI
Terence Roberts, Anderson SC
Will Wynn, Austin TX
Douglas Wilder, Richmond VA and Former Governor of Virginia
Adrian Fenty, Washington D.C.
Greg Nickels, Seattle WA
Dave Cieslewicz, Madison WI
Tom Barrett, Milwaukee WI

Marion Barry, Washington D.C. council member, and former mayor
Ron Kirk, former Mayor of Dallas TX
Federico Pena, former Mayor of Denver CO, former US Secretary of Energy and of Transportation
Michael R. White, former Mayor of Cleveland (OH), switched from Clinton to Obama

US Senators

Chris Dodd, Connecticut
Dick Durbin, Illinois
Edward Kennedy, Massachusetts
John Kerry, Massachusetts
Claire McCaskill, Missouri
Ben Nelson, Nebraska
Kent Conrad, North Dakota
Byron Dorgan, North Dakota
Tim Johnson, South Dakota
Patrick Leahy, Vermont
Russ Feingold, Wisconsin

Bill Bradley, former US Senator (NJ), runner-up 2000 Democratic Presidential primary
Jean Carnahan, former US Senator (MO) and former First Lady of Missouri
Lincoln Chafee, former Republican US Senator (RI)
Tom Daschle, former US Senator (SD) and US Senate Majority Leader
Gary Hart, former US Senator (CO), runner-up 1984 Democratic Presidential primary
Harris Wofford, former US Senator (PA)

US Representatives

Artur Davis, Alabama
Raul Grijalva, Arizona
Xavier Becerra, California
...
Elijah Cummings, Maryland
Albert Wynn, Maryland
...
Tim Roemer, former US Representative (IN) and 9/11 Commissioner
Howard Wolpe, former US Representative (MI)

Unions & other organizations

* Change to Win, 7 unions representing 6 million workers
Change to Win includes:
- International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT)
- Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA)
- Service Employees International Union (SEIU)
- United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America (UBC)
- United Farm Workers of America (UFW)
- United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW)
- Unite Here
* AFSCME of Illinois (95,000 active & retired workers)
* 80 Lawyers for Guantanamo Bay detainees
* International Brotherhood of Boilermakers (65,000 members)
* Maria Elena Durazo, leader Los Angeles County Federation of Labor (800,000 union members)
* Mexican American Democrats, Texas
* MoveOn.org
* National Weather Service Employees Organization
* Transport Workers Union (140,000 active workers / 60,000 retired)
* United Healthcare Workers
* Utility Workers Union of America (UWUA) (70,000 members)

other notable political figures & superdelegates

Michael D. Brown, “shadow” US Senator (DC) and superdelegate
Paul Strauss, “shadow” US Senator (DC) and superdelegate
Richard Cordray, Ohio Treasurer
Jim Dunnam, Texas House Democratic Leader
Stan Gruszynski, superdelegate from Stevens Point, WI
John Holum, former Clinton administration official for arms control
Rev. Jesse Jackson, civil rights activist, 2-time Presidential candidate, former DC “shadow” senator
Phil Johnston, Massachusetts DNC chairperson
Ned Lamont, Connecticut Democract candidate for US Senate 2006
Leon Lynch, DNC member and Pennsylvania superdelegate
Patrick Lynch, Attorney General of Rhode Island, and superdelegate
Norman Mineta, former US Rep., US Sec. of Transportation and of Commerce, Mayor San Jose (CA)
Sonny Nardi, President of Teamsters’ Local 416 (Cleveland, OH) and superdelegate
Donald Norcross, NJ superdelegate
Steve Novick, activist, environmental lawyer, and 2008 candidate for US Senator from Oregon
Jason Rae, DNC member and Wisconsin superdelegate (youngest superdelegate)
Dana Redd, NJ State Senator, superdelegate, switched from Clinton to Obama
Christine “Roz” Samuels, superdelegate from Montclair, NJ. switched from Clinton to Obama
Marianne Stevens, Maine Democratic Party Vice Chair and supdelegate
Senfronia Thompson, Texas state representative (Houston) and superdelegate
Paul Volcker, former Federal Reserve Chairman
Patricia M. Wald, former Chief Judge of D.C. Circuit, member of Iraq Intelligence Commission
David Willhelm, Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign manager, former chair of the DNC, and superdelegate
Magaret D. Xifaras, DNC member and Massachusettes superdelegate

Newspapers

Native American Times (national paper, based in Tulsa, OK)
Tuscaloosa News (AL)
Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ)
Fresno Bee (CA)
La Opinion (Los Angeles, CA)
Los Angeles Times (CA)
Oakland Tribune (CA)
Sacramento Bee (CA)
Sacrameto News & Review (CA)
San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
San Francisco Bay Guardian (CA)
San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Santa Barbara Independent (CA)
Santa Cruz Sentinel (CA)
St. Petersburg Times (FL)
Gainesville Sun (FL)
Tampa Tribune (FL)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution (GA)
Iowa City Press-Citizen (IA)
Sioux City Journal (IA)
Chicago Tribune (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times (IL)
Boston Globe (MA)
Baltimore Sun (MD)
Portland Press Herald (ME)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO)
Nashua Telegraph (NH)
Portsmouth Herald (NH)
Valley News (White River Junction, VT & Lebanon, NH)
Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ)
Trenton Times (NJ)
Albuquerque Tribune (NM)
Santa Fe New Mexican (NM)
Las Vegas Review-Journal (NV)
Reno Gazette-Journal (NV)
New York Observer (NY)
New York Post (NY)
Rochester City Newspaper (NY)
The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, OH)
Dayton Daily News (OH)
Toledo Blade (OH)
Philadelphia Inquirer (PA)
Greenville News (SC)
The State (SC)
Austin American Statesman (TX)
Corpus Christi Caller-Times (TX)
Dallas Morning News (TX)
El Paso Times (TX)
Fort Worth Star-Telegram (TX)
Houston Chronicle (TX)
San Antonio Express-News (TX)
Post-Intelligencer (Seattle, WA)
Seattle Times (WA)
The Stranger (Seattle, WA)
The Capital Times (Madison, WI)

Public Figures
- People -
Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream co-founders Ben Cohen & Jerry Greenfield
Oprah Winfrey, television host
Cornel West, scholar
Alice Walker, author
Maria Shriver, First Lady of California, author, journalist, niece of US President John F. Kennedy
Alma Rangel, wife of US Representative Charlie Rangel (NY)
Elizabeth B. Moynihan, widow of Former US Senator (NY) Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Toni Morrison, author
Kate Michelman, Former President of NARAL Pro-Choice America
Mike Medavoy, film producer and executive
Bill Maher, comedian and television personality
Spike Lee, director
Caroline Kennedy, daughter of US President John F. Kennedy
Garrison Keillor, radio personality and author
Tom Joyner, radio host
Sheila Johnson, Black Entertainment Television co-founder
Susan Eisenhower, granddaughter of US President Dwight D. Eisenhower
Jesse Dylan, director
Ken Burns, director
Tyra Banks, television host and supermodel

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