Barack Obama is not a left candidate. This fact has seemingly surprised a number of progressive people who are bemoaning Obama’s “shift to the center.” (Right-wingers are happy to join them, suggesting Obama is a “flip-flopper.”) It’s sad that some who seek progressive change are missing the forest for the trees. But they will not dampen the wide and deep enthusiasm for blocking a third Bush term represented by John McCain, or for bringing Obama by a landslide into the White House with a large Democratic congressional majority..... Reprinted from the People's Weekly World Newspaper
by Erica Smiley and Dan Margolis, 04/29/2008 16:21
As of this writing, the Republicans have settled on their nominee, and the U.S. is still in the midst of a Democratic primary race that has energized and mobilized millions of people, especially youth, across the country. In state primary after state primary, record numbers of people have come out to vote, or caucus, to add their voice to the millions debating the question: Who will be the Democratic presidential nominee, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) or Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.)?
Erica Smiley's Bi-Annual Report to the National Council
April 12-13, 2008; Chicago, IL
POLITICAL CLIMATE
There are so many things I could talk about right now with regards to the state of education, jobs, housing, and the on-going occupation in Iraq. But these days it would be difficult to mention these things without first discussing the 2008 elections.
"The clearest expression of this developing movement pivots around the candidacy of Barack Obama, whose inspirational message and politics have captured the imagination of millions. So much so that many commentators and politicians use the words 'transformational' or 'transforming' to describe his candidacy — that is, a candidacy capable of assembling a broad people’s majority to reconfigure the terms and terrain of politics in this country in a fundamental way."
by Joelle Fishman, Chair, Political Action Committee, CPUSA, 04/10/2008 16:31
"A landslide vote that changes control of the White House and improves the balance of forces in the House and Senate and in the states will create a new political dynamic in our country and the possibility to win gains far beyond the current platform of either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton."
"At its quarterly national committee meeting this past weekend, the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) called for a landslide in the November 4th elections to defeat John McCain and strengthening the Democratic Party majorities in Congress."
While we do not endorse any particular candidates, we do endorse and join in the anti-Bush/anti-right wing sentiments that are driving so many people to activism.
by Joelle Fishman, Chair, Political Action Committee, CPUSA, 03/17/2008 09:56
Labor’s campaign for the right to organize, and coalition organizing by peace and community groups for such needs as “not-for-profit” universal health care, affordable housing, equal quality public education, safe, clean energy and green job creation are at the heart of achieving a change of course in our country.
Stay tuned to apply for the Summer Youth Elections Camp!
The website for Youth Voter Collective will be up soon at http://youthvotercollective.org. In the mean time view the camp commercial!
On July 29 through August 5th, the Youth Voter Collective will host a training camp for young people who are interested in learning how to be more effective organizers during an election. The camp will be in St Louis, Missouri, and it will include non-partisan workshop sessions as well as real campaign experience!
The registration is only $50, and covers housing and a portion of your meals.
by Scott Marshall, CPUSA Vice Chair and Chair, CPUSA Labor Commission, 02/21/2008 16:23
Getting carried away with your own rhetoric is rarely a good thing. Tom Buffenbarger, president of the Machinists' union (International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers), did just that in a “warm-up” speech for Hillary Clinton the night of the Wisconsin primary win by Barack Obama.
by Elena Mora, National Organization Secretary, 02/06/2008 16:05
Others have said and will say this: history is being made in the 2008 election battle. But that doesn’t make it any less true.
The first thing to talk about is the tremendous excitement and engagement of people in this election. Voter turnout is breaking records. People went to vote in the primaries almost as if it were the general election. And not just out of party loyalty or a sense of duty, but because they wanted to, they were excited, and they wanted to make their opinion part of what’s happening.
We heard the same old lies, the cheap applause lines, the idle boasting, and the empty rhetoric coming from Bush once again in his State of the Union Address. But this time it seemed more like a final curtain call of a washed up actor who nearly everyone now realizes never should have stepped foot on the stage.
The CPUSA Internet Department interviews Sam Webb about the question of democracy and the 2008 elections.
We ask the questions:
1) Does the CPUSA support democracy?
2) What is the CPUSA's opinion of the 2008 elections?
3) What difference will the 2008 elections make?
Joelle Fishman's report to the Communist Party USA National Committee on the 2008 elections. The report centers around the issues involved in the elections and the possibilities it presents for moving forward the people's struggles.
by Joelle Fishman, Chair, Political Action Committee, CPUSA, 11/21/2007 11:16
In 2008 the elections for President and Congress could change the political map in our country. Shatter right-wing Republican political control of the South, end right-wing political dominance of rural America, create big new possibilities for workers to join and organize unions and give new voice to the disenfranchised. The 2008 elections could usher in a new grass roots people’s politics in our nation.
Report to the National Committee November 10th 2007
Welcome to this meeting of the National Committee. I’m sure that I don’t have to underscore the importance of this gathering, taking place as it does on the eve of an election that could transform U.S. and world politics for years to come.
A fundamental question for the National Committee to consider is the following: Are we entering a new stage of struggle in our country in which the convergence and interaction of political events, movements, and processes of an immediate and medium term nature contain the possibility of throwing the class struggle on a new political trajectory?
Or to put it in more familiar language, are we in a transition from one stage of struggle to another? Are we moving from the struggle against the extreme right, which has dominated politics for more than a quarter century, to a new stage where the challenge is to radically curb corporate power as a whole?
Archive
2008 Elections
