Obama notes

Here is a short video with footage from Friday's town hall meeting with Obama that I attended.

I WAS ALSO FORTUNATE to be in Obama's southwest Vegas campaign office on Thursday when Samantha Power, one of his senior foreign policy advisers, dropped by and spoke to us for about twenty minutes about the Senator's stance on various policy issues as well as his overall approach to foreign policy.

She noted his pragmatic approach to problem solving. This underlies his firm conviction that America must speak not only to our friends but also to our enemies. He took some flak for comments to that effect earlier in the campaign, but he has successfully made his case for why this makes sense, echoing JFK's "Let us never negotiate out of fear; but let us never fear to negotiate" quote. While we may have differences with nations like Iran or Russia, our interests are best served when we speak to them and identify areas where we can work together. And most importantly, we must get our own house in order before we can pressure other states about their own human rights abuses. Our moral standing in the world has been badly damaged by Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, and Obama is committed to restoring America to its role as a leader for human rights.

Power also talked about Obama's ability to see the interconnections of various issues, "how everything is connected to everything else." Policy choices the U.S. makes inevitably have economic impacts, social impacts, and so on. Making wise decisions requires an understanding of this complexity, and leadership requires using our influence and not just force.

OBAMA HAS PICKED UP SEVERAL BIG ENDORSEMENTS in the past week... an interesting post about them here.