We Stand For Hope and Change
Changing Hope Into Action

"This is no way to run the greatest country on Earth. It’s a dangerous game that we’ve never played before, and we can’t afford to play it now. Not when the jobs and livelihoods of so many families are at stake. We can’t allow the American people to become collateral damage to Washington’s political warfare.

-President Barack Obama, July 25, 2011

Friends

Over the past 4 years, we have seen it all.

We have all witnessed small mindedness; viciousness; prejudice, and more. All in attempts to derail a election, or the legislative accomplishments enhancing the values we all share.

Now we cannot believe what lies before us; unwillingness to compromise is putting our national Credit, (and as Nicolas Kristol said yesterday) our National Security, at risk.

There have been so many moments of stress in the past 2.5 years; and each time, we have been proud of what Barack Obama has done; what he has said; and how he has led us through so many moments of darkness. We feel that way tonight. Proud of him; mindful of how we must continue to embody the campaign promise of Respect, Empowerment, and Inclusion, as a way forward.

At this moment of crisis, we are once again reminded of why we signed on to support Senator Barack Obama for President, why we thought he could be not a good, but a great, President.

Tonight he said this;

“America, after all, has always been a grand experiment in compromise. As a democracy made up of every race and religion, where every belief and point of view is welcomed, we have put to the test time and again the proposition at the heart of our founding: that out of many, we are one. We’ve engaged in fierce and passionate debates about the issues of the day, but from slavery to war, from civil liberties to questions of economic justice, we have tried to live by the words that Jefferson once wrote: “Every man cannot have his way in all things -- without this mutual disposition, we are disjointed individuals, but not a society.”

History is scattered with the stories of those who held fast to rigid ideologies and refused to listen to those who disagreed. But those are not the Americans we remember. We remember the Americans who put country above self, and set personal grievances aside for the greater good. We remember the Americans who held this country together during its most difficult hours; who put aside pride and party to form a more perfect union.”

Tonight, Barack Obama has asked for our help.

We ask you to join us, tomorrow, in asking each of our elected officials to compromise to preserve the great idea, the promise, and the Hope, that is this nation.


We Stand, With You, For Hope and Change

Lou & Carol Frillman

Friends

We have started Updates 2012 as a way of communicating with you, a great supporter of President Obama. Sometimes Updates will include humor, vignettes , and approaches meant to enliven the message; that the re-election of Barack Obama is essential to continue the mission we all began in 2006, 2007, and 2008.

Today, we want to provide you with a view on a matter of the utmost gravity and of great concern to our nation, and the world; Middle Eastern Peace and what the President did say as it relates to his speech last Thursday at the US State Department concerning Israel.

There has been a substantial amount of misinformation, misdirection, and just plain manipulation about what the President said and what he meant.

The President did not call for Israel to withdraw to the 1967 lines, but rather that the two sides should negotiate a border based on that line with mutually agreed swaps. By definition this means that there would need to be adjustments to the border to take account of the realities on the ground and to satisfy both sides’ needs. This is consistent with all of the negotiations that have taken place over the past 20 years as well as President Bush’s statements from 2004.

Second, the President called for robust security arrangements to prevent a resurgence of terrorism, stop the infiltration of weapons, and provide effective border security – and made clear that any agreement must not leave Israel vulnerable. He called for two states for two peoples with Israel as a Jewish state, underscored that an agreement must end all claims, and emphasized that all Palestinians must accept Israel’s right to exist to move forward.

Last, he put these principles forward precisely because direct negotiations are the only means to resolve the conflict, and he categorically rejected any Palestinian attempt to avoid negotiations by going to the UN in September. In fact, it was very important to do it yesterday – in anticipation of the President’s trip to Europe next week – so as to frame Palestinian and European efforts. We needed to create an alternative to the Palestinian UN gambit, particularly to keep the Europeans from supporting it, and based on the international reaction to the speech so far, we have done so.

Moreover, we want to get the focus back where it belongs: on Iran.

In that speech, The President laid out his vision for a new era of peace in the Middle East this week -- a vision rooted in an abiding belief in Israel as a Jewish state.

We wanted to make sure you know he'll be discussing this vision further in a speech at the AIPAC Policy Conference tomorrow morning.

AIPAC will be live-streaming the event online. You can tune in tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time here:

http://my.barackobama.com/AIPAC

And if you can't watch the President's speech live, be sure to check it out at the White House site anytime tomorrow afternoon:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/Video


We Are In,


Lou & Carol Frillman

“We Are In”

Friends

When this journey began, we all joined together in common purpose and unity, knowing that our shared goals of healing a nation and ending nearly a decade of misadventures would take all of us, all of our effort and energy. And it did.

What started, as David Plouffe would say, as a rag-tag band of folks, ended on November 5, 2008, in victory. Some may have suspected, few of us knew, the complex challenges that would lie ahead. Over the last two years and 4 months, each success in meeting these challenges was not Barack Obama’s alone; it was and is all of yours as well.

But strong and steady leadership was necessary to get us here.

Barack Obama’s leadership has been rock solid as he and our entire Team encountered and then handled adroitly the many emergencies dropped in our laps on January 20, 2009. President Obama and the Team have led us through a plethora of problems that would have diminished or compromised so many others.

As President, Barack Obama has confronted the greatest combined set of domestic and foreign policy challenges to the vital interests of the US in generations; he has done it methodically, thoughtfully, with wisdom, care, integrity, and honor, while remaining true to the promises he made America during the 2008 campaign, and remaining true to his and our shared values.

As President, Barack Obama has;

• Saved the US economy
• Saved the US auto industry
• Ended our massive and mistaken involvement in Iraq
• Is leading us out of Afghanistan
• Signed the Lily Ledbetter law
• Appointed, with massive Senate approval, 2 new Supreme Court Justices
• Achieved Financial regulatory reform
• Strategized, and then Signed the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.
• Promoted and signed the Affordable Care Act, the greatest advance in 75 years
providing Health Care for all Americans, eliminating pre-existing
conditions , and guiding mandatory preventitive care. See Here to find out how
you can help sustain the ACA through Protect Our Care.
• Re-established respect for the US in the community of nations
• Determined that we must Win the Future, and established how we will do just
that through improvements in education, infrastructure and research and
investment, and is organizing a national effort to support those goals.
• Met a dynamic immediate threat by a brutal dictator to his own people by
organizing a massive coalition of nations in responding to the immediate
threat of a massacre, while understanding our responsibilities and our
capacity, and has proceeded with a heartfelt and responsible response to
this latest humanitarian crisis. See Here for Nicolas Kristof on the Libyan
action.
• Has supported and created policies that have created over 1 million jobs since
Inauguration. See Here for details on the Obama led recovery.
• And so much more……………………

Today, we are delighted to share with you the news that Barack Obama will be the Democratic Candidate for President of the United States in 2012.

The 2012 Campaign will be run by Jim Messina, former Deputy White House Chief of Staff, who will do a magnificent job presenting the Case for Barack Obama to the American people. See Here and Here why we know Jim is the right choice to manage the 2012 effort.

For these reasons, and so many more, We Are In.

We will be supporting Barack Obama’s candidacy, in every way possible; we respectfully ask each of you to consider doing so as well.

As Barack Obama is President, some will think - we can cruise to victory.

Make no mistake; this battle will be just as difficult as 2008. Our opponents are determined and their coffers will be full. It will take each and every one of our hands , hearts, voice, treasure, and votes to prevail. We will, once again, have to “leave it all on the floor” to win.

Always together, we look forward to this journey through the corridors of history, making and winning the future, with each and every one of you.

We thank you for your past dedication and support; we look forward to your joining us in this historic effort to support and defend Change.

As the campaign proceeds, we will be talking about places and ways you can help, and will share that as more details become available.

Are You In?

We Stand, With You, For Hope and Change


Lou & Carol Frillman

“We have to figure out how we all can be better people”
-Carol Frillman, January 12, 2011

Friends

Last weekend, we all witnessed a act of unspeakable violence, directed against Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, and many others, in Tucson, Az.

In that moment, we also saw the best that is America; acts of bravery and compassion as bystanders jumped in without regard for themselves, as they rushed to aid victims or subdue the shooter. That is the America that we live in, and that we love; where neighbor helps neighbor, where neighbor helps folks unknown to them, at a moment’s notice. This is hope, alive, crossing all boundaries.

Barack Obama is the 44th President of the United States. He is also a husband, a son, a friend, a father, and a grandson. Last night, we heard from all of him.

President Obama spoke last night and said, in part,

“The loss of these wonderful people should make every one of us strive to be better in our private lives – to be better friends and neighbors, co-workers and parents. And if, as has been discussed in recent days, their deaths help usher in more civility in our public discourse, let's remember that it is not because a simple lack of civility caused this tragedy, but rather because only a more civil and honest public discourse can help us face up to our challenges as a nation, in a way that would make them proud…………….

I believe we can be better. Those who died here, those who saved lives here – they help me believe. We may not be able to stop all evil in the world, but I know that how we treat one another is entirely up to us. I believe that for all our imperfections, we are full of decency and goodness, and that the forces that divide us are not as strong as those that unite us………

But what we can't do is use this tragedy as one more occasion to turn on one another. As we discuss these issues, let each of us do so with a good dose of humility. Rather than pointing fingers or assigning blame, let us use this occasion to expand our moral imaginations, to listen to each other more carefully, to sharpen our instincts for empathy, and remind ourselves of all the ways our hopes and dreams are bound together. “

We believe the best and only thing we can do today, is to offer prayers for the victims, and the deranged. For the families whose lives have been indelibly changed. While we may not know these people, we can wrap them all in our thoughts, and let them know that in this family, the American family, we stand United with them in their grief.

At the beginning of this journey we have all made together, people wondered why we all were involved and what was driving us. Together, we stood for our children and grandchildren, and for those who could not stand for themselves.

We know now , that we are also standing for Gabby Giffords. For Judge Roll, for Phyllis, and for Gabe, George, Dot, and Dorwan. And most especially, for 9 year old Christina Taylor Green.

“The loss of these wonderful people should make every one of us strive to be better in our private lives – to be better friends and neighbors, co-workers and parents. And if, as has been discussed in recent days, their deaths help usher in more civility in our public discourse, let's remember that it is not because a simple lack of civility caused this tragedy, but rather because only a more civil and honest public discourse can help us face up to our challenges as a nation, in a way that would make them proud”-

-President Barack Obama, Tucson, Az., 1-12-11

With Respect, and in Unity,
We Stand, With You, For Hope and Change

Lou & Carol Frillman

Remembering 1-03-08 Iowa

Supporters and Friends

Happy New Year.

Three years ago tonight, on January 3, 2008, we were in our Field Of Dreams, in Des Moines, Iowa, watching over 200,000 fellow citizens leave their homes on a very cold night to do the hard work of democracy and vote their conscience. The result of that caucus across frigid plains now is before us;

• Pulling the economy from the brink of disaster
• Thirty Million Americans who can now obtain basic health insurance.
• Two Supreme Court Justices who share our values
• Active withdrawal from Iraq
• Financial Reform and Consumer Protection
• Tax Reform for the middle class
• Equality for our brothers and sisters in the LGBT community in military service
• And so much more…………………..

As we now face a new Congress with Republican leadership, we remind you that we have faced incredible odds before; after all, a unified media was convinced in December of 2007 that Barack Obama was wasting his time. We ask you to think back today and remember that on January 4, 2008, what many had thought was a dream had become real. If President Obama was with us today, he would remind us that the victory was not his, it belonged to the American People.

This is what he said that night in Des Moines;

“Hope is what I saw in the eyes of the young woman in Cedar Rapids who works the night shift after a full day of college and still can't afford health care for a sister who's ill; a young woman who still believes that this country will give her the chance to live out her dreams.

Hope is what I heard in the voice of the New Hampshire woman who told me that she hasn't been able to breathe since her nephew left for Iraq; who still goes to bed each night praying for his safe return.

Hope is what led a band of colonists to rise up against an empire; what led the greatest of generations to free a continent and heal a nation; what led young women and young men to sit at lunch counters and brave fire hoses and march through Selma and Montgomery for freedom's cause.

Hope-hope-is what led me here today - with a father from Kenya; a mother from Kansas; and a story that could only happen in the United States of America. Hope is the bedrock of this nation; the belief that our destiny will not be written for us, but by us; by all those men and women who are not content to settle for the world as it is; who have the courage to remake the world as it should be.

That is what we started here in Iowa, and that is the message we can now carry to New Hampshire and beyond; the same message we had when we were up and when we were down; the one that can change this country brick by brick, block by block, calloused hand by calloused hand - that together, ordinary people can do extraordinary things; because we are not a collection of Red States and Blue States, we are the United States of America; and at this moment, in this election, we are ready to believe again. Thank you, Iowa.”

As we approach the work of the New Year of 2011, we ask one thing; Remember where this journey began. And how far we still have to go, with your help.


We Stand, With You, For Hope and Change

Lou & Carol Frillman

“I think it's fair to say that this has been the most productive post-election period we've had in decades. And it comes on the heels of the most productive two years that we've had in generations,"
-President Barack Obama, December 22, 2010


Under Your Tree Is...............
Economic Recovery Act
New START -DADT - Health Care Reform -Financial Regulatory Reform
Two Supreme Court Justices
Consumer Protection Agency - 9-11 Responders Act
Millions of jobs saved & 1+ Million Jobs Created 2010



Friends


Thank You.

Of all the gifts you have given this year, your enduring support and commitment to President Obama, and our shared values, has directly contributed to the greatest legislative accomplishments in this generation, and perhaps the last 100 years. And for that, we thank you. As does a grateful nation.

Today we read in Bloomberg;

"The 111th Congress made more laws affecting more Americans since the 'Great Society' legislation of the 1960s. For the first time since President Theodore Roosevelt began the quest for a national health-care system more than 100 years ago, the Democrat-led House and Senate took the biggest step toward achieving that goal by giving 32 million Americans access to insurance. Congress rewrote the rules for Wall Street in the most comprehensive way since the Great Depression. It spent more than $1.67 trillion to revive an economy on the verge of a depression ... ; ended an almost two-decade ban against openly gay men and women serving in the military, and is poised today to ratify a nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia. ... 'This is probably the most productive session of Congress since at least the '60s,' said Alan Brinkley, a historian at New York's Columbia University."

President Obama said further today, after the US Senate passed START;

“A lot of folks in this town predicted that, after the midterm elections, Washington would be headed for more partisanship and more gridlock. And instead, this has been a season of progress for the American people……. This is the most significant arms control agreement in nearly two decades. And it will make us safer and reduce our nuclear arsenals, along with Russia. This treaty will enhance our leadership to stop the spread of nuclear weapons and seek the peace of a world without them.”

Two things made this all possible; your constant support for our shared values, and the leadership of President Barack Obama. Through doubt and questioning over the past 23 months, in times that many questioned his direction and strategy, President Obama and the Team stayed on course. The result ?

• Saving the US Economy…Two New Supreme Court Justices………Health Care Reform………Financial Regulatory Reform….Millions of Jobs Saved
• A Tax Act that most economists now predict will lead to major increased job growth and GDP next year
• The end of legalized discrimination against the LGBT community in the US military
• Ratification of START which will lead to a safer world for all
• Passage of a act to provide further protection for our 9-11 responders

In the season of struggles , President Obama remained committed to his core belief that bi- partisanship in matters of the national interest would yield real results for the American people. With your support, that belief has proven true. While Washington fixated daily on who was up, and who was down, Barack Obama provided the leadership needed to see clearly the way to a better day for America. While some have not agreed on the path, we now all end up in the same place; supporting shared values that benefit the American people.

With you, we look forward to the challenges ahead, knowing that, together, the Change we have all forged , will continue to be perfected through our Common Purpose, and in Unity. We remain humbled to continue on this path with you.

We wish you and yours a wonderful Holiday season filled with family, happiness, and joy.

With Many Thanks,

We Stand, With You, For Hope and Change


Lou & Carol Frillman

What Next?

“Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America ”
-President Barack Obama, Jan 20, 2009


Friends

Yesterday, a neighbor we hadn’t seen in a while ran into us at one of our local restaurants. He asked us if we still felt strongly supportive of President Obama after the election results ?

This is our answer.

On January 20, 2009 at 12 noon, as Barack Obama was inaugurated the 44th President of the United States, the United States was in a national economic emergency. As President Obama addressed the nation that day, a Tuesday, 25,000 Americans (based on that month total) lost their job. Total job losses that month were 750,000 Americans. That is ;

• 12 times the population of Oak Park, Il. where Carol & I grew up
• 7.5 times the population of Green Bay, Wis.
• 110% of the combined total urban population of Minneapolis and St Paul; including children.

At a average American family size of 2.5, that means that nearly 1.9 million people were affected by the job losses in January 2009.

Many were celebrating, with good reason, that day. Many Americans, though, were not.

For the Obama Team that crossed the threshold of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, that day, President Obama included, the celebration was tempered by the knowledge that we were perched on a precipice and that nothing other than perseverance, hard work, determination, skill, luck, and yes, the grace of the Good Lord could pull us back from. We were in the midst of a total and complete economic meltdown. There was no system liquidity, and no expectation that there would be.

Across town, a different view had been reached.

While Americans were suffering, while jobs were being eliminated that month at a rate of 1,000 fellow Americans a hour, the Republican Tea Party had made a simple calculation. They were going to watch as Americans fell off the cliff, and blame it all on President Obama. They would even blame President Obama for things that had been initiated under President Bush. With clear focus, that is exactly the program they have executed. They would obfuscate, incite, and use fear as a political weapon. And that is exactly what they have done.

One simple example; when George Bush was elected in 2000, our total gross debt was $5.6 Trillion. When he left office in January 2009, the same debt was $10 Trillion. That is a nearly 100% increase in public debt and is directly attributable to the strategy of dropping tax rates () while fighting a shooting war. Talking about Democrates being financially irresponsible in the face of this set of facts is real audacity.

As the year progressed, President Obama and the Team was battered with hourly, daily, and weekly, twists that increased the system risk. These twists were aggravated by legislative conundrums, political dead ends, and external events (think BP). Through this all, President Obama stayed focused on the multiplicity of steps he knew were necessary to arrest the slide. At no time, did the Team choose political positioning versus simply doing the right thing. Given that we have now gained 874,000 jobs through October for the year 2010, we can be thankful for that focus.

But there has been a cost.

While a Strategy for Recovery was being implemented, the left saw only what was not getting accomplished; and the Right began the single minded mission of repeating the Big Lie(s) everywhere they could;

“Democrats are big spenders, high taxing liberals. They are different than us “Real Americans”.

The result of the President and Team keeping their focus is this;

• Economic disaster avoided through a $780B stimulus Bill
• Two Supreme Court Justices approved
• Health Care Reform passed
• Reform of a broken financial system
• Ended combat operations in Iraq
• Refocused our efforts in Afghanistan
• Consumer Protection Agency creation under Elizabeth Warren
• Signed the Lily Ledbetter law
• Restored faith in American diplomacy
• And so much more…………………………….


On Wednesday, November 3, we woke to a changed landscape. The US House, effective January 2011, will now be run by the Republican Tea Party and Speaker John Boehner. Democrats lost 60+ seats in the House and thus, control. The US Senate in Democratic hands.

What can we draw from this? Is President Obama’s early position to offer open handed cooperation the Republicans to blame?

One thing for sure is this; fighting a election coming out of a massive recession, near Depression, was sure to be a uphill battle. Isn’t this all just President Obama’s fault? That’s what the Republicans would have America believe. This is the politics that Barack Obama speaks against. One of division, name calling , and fear.

Last week, Michael Tomasky, published a article and book (s) review in New York Review of Books, added to the piling on to President Barack Obama.

Mr. Tomasky chose to survey the difficulties of the past year, and like many others, manage to conclude that recent political losses were the direct result of what Barack Obama did or did not do; the choices he made, or did not make. The “illusions” that Tomasky accuses him of laboring under. (illusion= Republican desire to cooperate in governing).

We know, as do you, that Barack Obama’s views and approaches to the vexing problems of our time are based on a clear-headedness regarding those who oppose a progressive America. But progress was planned and executed on what was possible with the entire landscape in view.

It is disappointing that Mr Tomasky, like others, continues to proffer a conclusion that, all evidence to the contrary, the economic rescue (TARP), health care, and other legislative accomplishments, would have passed in their most progressive form that some would have chosen to promote ( can you say “public option” ? ). That is a “illusion” that simply does not comport with the facts. These bills would not have been passed in their most progressive form.The votes were simply not there. And our Team knew it.

We don’t know if that should be called Survivalism, or Revivalism, as Richard Wolffe would characterize it. More to the point, it was Realism and led to the greatest legislative accomplishments of our lifetime.

Many now choose to sling darts and arrows at President Obama for the choices he made through this minefield of the recent past. Everyone has a view of what he should have been done and how he should have done it.

In particular, some now fashion themselves experts in how being on the attack would have produced a different political result.

Over the past two years, every day, President Obama and the entire team woke up trying to balance a thousand, no, million, moving parts, and competing alternatives, in a successful attempt to stear the ship of state through this minefield; the left crtiricizing him for being too timid, the right accusing him of causing the multiple crises in the first place.

At the first news conference after the Bay of Pigs, President Kennedy repeated this observation by Spanish Bullfighter Domingo Ortega ;

Bullfight critics ranked in rows
Crowd the enormous Plaza full
But only one is there who knows
And he's the man who fights the bull

We listen, respectfully, to those who want to chart a different course.

We ask you to carefully consider how we can unite now, in common purpose, as we confront those who would upend the accomplishments of the last 2 years. Respectfully, we ask you to join this fight for our future by looking forward together.

The steadiest hand on the till of our ship, in the midst of the past 2 years, has been Barack Obama. Speaking of immigration reform at America University on July 1, he said;

“This is a emotional question, one that lends itself to demagoguery. Time and again, this issue has been used to divide and inflame-and to demonize people. And so the understandable, the natural impulse among those who run for office is to turn away and defer this question for another day, another year, or another administration…….This is why a broken and dangerous system that offends our most basic American values is still in place. But I believe we can put politics aside and finally have a system that’s accountable.

I believe we can appeal not to people’s fears, but their hopes, to their highest ideals, because that’s who we are as Americans.”

This is the man we elected 44th President of the United States.

In the fall of 2008, at the Chicago based Obama Women’s Leadership Conference, two weeks before the election, the last speaker said this;

“ When Barack Obama is elected President, and he will be, we each will think our work is over. I tell you it is not. It is each of our responsibilities to continue this work. After all, he is only a man and he will need each and every one of us to continue to perfect our Union.”

So we each have a responsibility to continue contributing to this work of our lifetime; thus, we will continue to point to ways we can each help. Multiple activities are now under way that will solidify how you can help, and we will share those as plans take form.

On Tuesday 11-30, a bi-partisan meeting will be held at the White House. Like you, we wish for success.

Can the hopes for a progressive America, the Democratic Party, and Barack Obama recover? The answer lies not only in his hands; it lies in ours as well.

In this new reality, we intend to be there, alongside you, fighting for our shared values, led by the 44th President of the United States, Barack Hussein Obama.

Our answer to the original question?

We Stand, With You, For Hope and Change
Lou & Carol Frillman