H4O Event: Upcoming Bus Tour

August 14th. Check Out Our flyer:

Obama's VP Choices Narrow

Well, it looks as if we are seeing Obama's VP list grow shorter. Hillary Clinton appears to no longer be in consideration after she has accepted a keynote spot on the Tuesday evening of the convention. (Generally, the VP speaks on Monday and/or Wednesday) and the President speaks on Thursday. See this article for more info.

Names high on the list appear to be Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, and Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh. (I'm hoping former Ga. Sen. Sam Nunn will also be floated).

Knowing the Obama campaign, however, expect a "curveball" choice.

Platform Highlights

Good morning H4O,

So I've added some of the photo and video footage from yesterday's Platform event. If you look in our photo section on the right hand side, you'll see pictures taken of Harlem residents in action. And if you look in our "latest media" section above, you'll see some of the video taken at the event. My apologies for the quality of these videos--they were taken using my digital camera and the quality is not the greatest. But it should give you an idea of what can happen when local residents can get involved in shaping the platform of a major political party--something the Democrats should be applauded for.

Thanks Harlem!

Our platform event was great! We had a strong turnout, spirited discussion, and I have plenty of video and pictures that I'll be putting up very soon. Thanks to all of you who came up and spoke up for change in this country. Again, thank you for your participation and we look forward to seeing you at our future events.

Platform With Us Today!

Click here for more details. Hope to see your face in the place today!

Sylvia's Also: Review

We had a strong turnout and a great (but brief) presentation of of education platform from Joe Rogers. I'll have some pictures and a little video up soon so you can see our people (and the Harlem community) in action. Plus, don't forget to join us this Saturday!

Tonight: Join Us At Sylvia's Also

We'll be gathering for our monthly Third Thursdays event tonight at 7:00pm, at sylvia's Also, located between 125th-126th/Lenox Ave. The focus? Education, and how it fits into our platform. So come on through, have a few drinks (and maybe a bite to eat) and help us develop the education portion of our platform for this weekend. Hope to see your face in the place!

Black In America: Open Thread

Tonight and tomorrow you will see a range of views from CNN's Black in America special. Why not comment here and share your thoughts on the program as it transpires?

Platforming with Us? Read These!

Good evening H4O,

To reduce chaos and save time, we've decided to give you two important tools designed to prepare you for our meeting this weekend.

1. The Blueprint for Change (pdf)
This PDF document is a copy of the policies developed and supported by the Obama campaign. You can use this document as a guide while you are putting ideas together for our Saturday meeting. Click here to download this document.


2. The 2004 Dem Platform (pdf)
This is the platform developed by the Democratic Party in 2004. This will be the structure of the document we will submit to the National campaign. Click here to download this document.

We'll see you on Saturday!

Delegatin' with Mike and Michelle: Mike's Intro

A special feature you'll only find here on H4O: Introducing "Delegatin' with Mike and Michelle, a weekly post by our two delegates, Mike Washington and Michelle Cruz. They will be documenting their first-time delegate experiences and sharing them with you, right here. Here is the first entry, by Mike:

I just want to introduce myself to those of you who I have not met yet. Michael here, I'm an Obama pledged delegate from the 15th Congressional District of NY. I've been involved with the Campaign since June of 2007 and have loved every minute of this journey. I'm looking forward to attending the convention in August and being able to cast my vote on behalf of the citizens of the 15th Congressional District for Senator Barack Obama.

This is truly an honor that I take very seriously and over the next couple of weeks before the convention, I am trying to connect with as many people in the district as possible. I really want to be not only your vote, but your voice at the convention. So with that said I will be attending as many of the platform meeting in the District as possible and H4O will also be hosting a platform meeting as well ( I hope you can attend).

I also check the blog daily and would love to hear from you about your concerns, suggestions, and questions. During the convention, I will try to blog each day to let you know what it's like at the convention on a daily basis - so if you have questions or are watching the convention on CSPAN and want to ask me a question, please do. I'll try to reply daily through the blog.

- Michael

Mike and Michelle will continue to post between here and the convention, so stay tuned to the site, remember to subscribe by clicking the "Posts" button under the subscribe section and picking your favorite news reader. Then, as our site is updated, you'll get the updates delivered directly!

Reminder: Platform With Us this Weekend!

Hi H4O,

It's almost time for our platform meeting. The details:

Saturday July 26th, 2008
African Services Committee, Inc
429 West 127th Street
New York , NY 10027, 3rd floor.
12PM - 4PM
Space is limited so please RSVP at http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/4gggk

We will be releasing a questionnaire for our readers to peruse so that you can be up-to-date when joining us on Saturday.

What Would You Like to See?

Hi H4O,

Consider this an "open thread." What topics would you like to see on the site? Let us know in the comments section. Your topic may appear here on the front page!

We're Live! Subscribe, Browse, Enjoy!

Welcome to our new digs, H4O Members!

Oh, the joys of moving... All the furniture, the hassles, the cost etc. At least at Harlem4Obama, we've made it easy for you, and you don't have to do anything but subscribe to the site! Click the "Posts" link over to the right under the subscribe section. that way, anytime we post an article to the site, you'll get a notification to your favorite News Reader. And it's all free of course.

So what's changed?
- We've added a blog format! Comment and dialogue with your fellow Obama supporters.
- Stay up-to-date with the latest news and video from the Obama campaign.
- Be aware of the latest events thrown by your Harlem neighbors (and post your own)!
- Read exclusive articles from Harlem locals, including our very own Denver delegates and platform experts, who will be documenting their first-time delegate/platform experiences right here.

We've designed this site with YOU in mind, and we're excited about your support. So welcome again, and tell us what you think!

Obama: My Plan for Iraq

Greetings H4O,
The following op-ed by Barack Obama appeared in the NY Times and details his plan for Iraq.

CHICAGO — The call by Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki for a timetable for the removal of American troops from Iraq presents an enormous opportunity. We should seize this moment to begin the phased redeployment of combat troops that I have long advocated, and that is needed for long-term success in Iraq and the security interests of the United States.


The differences on Iraq in this campaign are deep. Unlike Senator John McCain, I opposed the war in Iraq before it began, and would end it as president. I believed it was a grave mistake to allow ourselves to be distracted from the fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban by invading a country that posed no imminent threat and had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks. Since then, more than 4,000 Americans have died and we have spent nearly $1 trillion. Our military is overstretched. Nearly every threat we face — from Afghanistan to Al Qaeda to Iran — has grown.

In the 18 months since President Bush announced the surge, our troops have performed heroically in bringing down the level of violence. New tactics have protected the Iraqi population, and the Sunni tribes have rejected Al Qaeda — greatly weakening its effectiveness.

But the same factors that led me to oppose the surge still hold true. The strain on our military has grown, the situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated and we’ve spent nearly $200 billion more in Iraq than we had budgeted. Iraq’s leaders have failed to invest tens of billions of dollars in oil revenues in rebuilding their own country, and they have not reached the political accommodation that was the stated purpose of the surge.

The good news is that Iraq’s leaders want to take responsibility for their country by negotiating a timetable for the removal of American troops. Meanwhile, Lt. Gen. James Dubik, the American officer in charge of training Iraq’s security forces, estimates that the Iraqi Army and police will be ready to assume responsibility for security in 2009.

Only by redeploying our troops can we press the Iraqis to reach comprehensive political accommodation and achieve a successful transition to Iraqis’ taking responsibility for the security and stability of their country. Instead of seizing the moment and encouraging Iraqis to step up, the Bush administration and Senator McCain are refusing to embrace this transition — despite their previous commitments to respect the will of Iraq’s sovereign government. They call any timetable for the removal of American troops “surrender,” even though we would be turning Iraq over to a sovereign Iraqi government.

But this is not a strategy for success — it is a strategy for staying that runs contrary to the will of the Iraqi people, the American people and the security interests of the United States. That is why, on my first day in office, I would give the military a new mission: ending this war.

As I’ve said many times, we must be as careful getting out of Iraq as we were careless getting in. We can safely redeploy our combat brigades at a pace that would remove them in 16 months. That would be the summer of 2010 — two years from now, and more than seven years after the war began. After this redeployment, a residual force in Iraq would perform limited missions: going after any remnants of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, protecting American service members and, so long as the Iraqis make political progress, training Iraqi security forces. That would not be a precipitous withdrawal.

In carrying out this strategy, we would inevitably need to make tactical adjustments. As I have often said, I would consult with commanders on the ground and the Iraqi government to ensure that our troops were redeployed safely, and our interests protected. We would move them from secure areas first and volatile areas later. We would pursue a diplomatic offensive with every nation in the region on behalf of Iraq’s stability, and commit $2 billion to a new international effort to support Iraq’s refugees.

Ending the war is essential to meeting our broader strategic goals, starting in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where the Taliban is resurgent and Al Qaeda has a safe haven. Iraq is not the central front in the war on terrorism, and it never has been. As Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently pointed out, we won’t have sufficient resources to finish the job in Afghanistan until we reduce our commitment to Iraq.

As president, I would pursue a new strategy, and begin by providing at least two additional combat brigades to support our effort in Afghanistan. We need more troops, more helicopters, better intelligence-gathering and more nonmilitary assistance to accomplish the mission there. I would not hold our military, our resources and our foreign policy hostage to a misguided desire to maintain permanent bases in Iraq.

In this campaign, there are honest differences over Iraq, and we should discuss them with the thoroughness they deserve. Unlike Senator McCain, I would make it absolutely clear that we seek no presence in Iraq similar to our permanent bases in South Korea, and would redeploy our troops out of Iraq and focus on the broader security challenges that we face. But for far too long, those responsible for the greatest strategic blunder in the recent history of American foreign policy have ignored useful debate in favor of making false charges about flip-flops and surrender.

It’s not going to work this time. It’s time to end this war.

Barack Obama, a United States senator from Illinois, is the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.

Comments? How do you feel about Obama's plan? Does it seem sound?

Harlem for Obama Platform Meeting - DNC Platform

Every four years, the Democratic Party assembles a "platform" that outlines the party's position on a variety of issues. Traditionally, the platform is written by paid professionals and then presented to the American people. This year, that's going to change.


From July 19 to July 27, everyday people all across America will hold Platform Meetings in their own communities. From Atlanta , Georgia to Muncie , Indiana , from Bangor , Maine to Eugene , Oregon , Americans will meet to talk about what issues are most important to them and what should be at the heart of the Democratic platform for change.

This is an opportunity for your voice to be heard about issues that you are concerned about right here in the 15th Congressional District, as well as, national and global issues. Issues like health care, global warming and urban greening, education, job creation, housing foreclosures and affordability, the economy, gas prices, civil and human rights ,America's reputation abroad and the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.


Harlem for Obama (H4O) will host this platform meeting
Saturday July 26th, 2008
African Services Committee, Inc
429 West 127th Street
New York , NY 10027, 3rd floor.
12PM - 4PM
Space is limited so please RSVP at http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/4gggk


The results of these Platform Meetings will be incorporated into the formal process that culminates in the adoption of the platform at the Democratic Convention in August.
A few participants may even be invited to appear and testify at the National Hearing and at the Convention!
You can write the next chapter in the history of the Democratic Party.


(Cross posted at my Barack Obama's website..)

Additions to the H4O Blog

You've probably noticed many changes (that you can believe in) to the H4O Blog as of late. We've recently:

- updated our photo section,
- added a more aesthetic background,
- and if you look above, you'll see our new video section, which imports the latest inputs of Obama on the stump.

We will be adding more to our page here and look forward to your continued input. Be sure to keep up with our event calendar to the right.

Electoral College Update - Larry Sabato

Well-respected political analyst Larry Sabato from the University of Virginia takes a look at the projected electoral college outcome. (Yes, I know it's July, but the article is still worth the click. Check it out.