Who is Sarah Palin? A REgormer? Read and laugh at her hypocrisy. .

Here's a sampling of reports that complicate Palin's reformist credentials:

• Last year, Palin requested more earmarks per person than any other state -- including some that were criticized by McCain himself.
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• Even as mayor of Wasilla, Palin's pursuit of earmarks was aggressive. She oversaw the hiring of a Washington lobbyist -- who, as we reported yesterday, had ties to Jack Abramoff -- to go after federal pork.
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• And though Palin touted her opposition to the "Bridge to Nowhere" just last week in her debut speech, she initially supported the project during her run for governor. It was only after the bridge became notorious as an example of pork barrel spending that she changed her position.
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• In her run for governor, Palin was endorsed by now-indicted Sen. Ted Stevens. Video of the endorsement has been removed from her government website, but the two appeared together just two months ago at a press conference on energy. The friendly relationship between the embattled senator, who is accused of lying about gifts he recieved from an oil contractor, and the supposedly maverick governor is at odds with Palin's claim to dismantling the "old boys club" of Alaska government.
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• As Wasilla mayor, Palin reportedly fired the police chief and attempted to fire the librarian, because she did not feel that she had their "full support in [her] efforts to govern the city of Wasilla." Former city officials allege that the attempts to remove the librarian were a result of her her refusal to censor books at Palin's request.
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• Palin has been at the center of the Trooper-Gate scandal that alleges misuse of her gubernatorial power. The affair erupted in July when Palin fired the Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan. Monegan later claimed his firing was a result of his refusal to fire Palin's former brother-in-law and trooper Mike Wooten. Palin denied that she, her husband or her staff ever pressured Monegan, a statement she later had to retract when recorded phone calls revealed one of her aides, Frank Bailey, had called a troopers office pushing for Wooten's removal.
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• Tonight, the Washington Post published emails from Palin to Monegan in which she appeared to complain that Wooten was still employed, apparently undercutting her claim that she discussed Wooten with Monegan only in the context of the security of her family.
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• As a result of the Trooper-Gate allegations, an independent investigator has been appointed by the state legislature. In recent days, Palin has appeared to stonewall the probe. Her lawyer argued in a complaint filed last night that she wold not be made available for her deposition unless the probe were handed over to the state personnel board, whose members are appointed by the governor. Bailey, who had been suspended by Palin with pay for his actions, today backed out of his deposition.
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• In a separate civil suit related to Wooten, Palin has claimed executive privilege on over a thousand emails between her and her staff, includin

OPbama Tears Down the Wall, from the Nation.

Barack Obama had several responsibilities when he embarked on the global tour that John McCain dared him to make.

The young senator from Illinois needed to establish himself as a credible world leader by going to Iraq and Afghanistan evidencing both his recognition of George Bush's manifest mistakes and his willingness and ability to wage a functional fight against legitimate terrorist threats. Check!

He needed to establish himself as respected commander-in-chief by not just appearing for photo-opportunities with troops in the field but by connecting with soldiers so that that all Americans who recognize their confidence in the man who seeks the authority to send these young men and women into life-and-death battles. Check!

He needed to establish himself as a diplomat capable of finessing the demands of Israelis and Palestinians in a manner that might suggest that, unlike Bill Clinton or George Bush, he is committed to advancing a difficult Middle East peace process from Day 1 of his presidency. Check!

And, of course, he needed to confirm his status as the greatest political orator of the era by delivering far more than just a stump speech in Berlin. Check!

How impressive did Obama's speech have to be to the citizens of Berlin, who greeted the Democrat who would be president with chants of the candidate's "Yes We Can" slogan?

Before Obama's arrival, London's Telegraph newspaper, a bible at the very least of the English-speaking European establishment, published a list of the 25 greatest political speeches of the past century.

"When Senator Barack Obama steps onto the stage on Thursday, next to Berlin's Victory column, the world will be expecting a momentous speech," the Telegraph observed. "The bar is high because, as even his detractors concede, Mr Obama is a remarkable orator. He first shot to prominence when he moved many at the 2004 Democratic convention to tears. He announced he would run for president last year with a beautifully-crafted address in Abraham Lincoln's home town of Springfield, Illinois. A pivotal moment of his epic primary battle with Hillary Clinton was his Philadelphia speech about race after the incendiary utterances of his former pastor Jeremiah Wright threatened to scupper his White House bid. But what makes a truly great speech?"

The definition chosen by the newspaper – "rhetorical brilliance, originality, historical importance, lasting influence, delivery and inspirational quality" -- was broad enough to include Obama even before he reached Berlin.

His 2004 Democratic National Convention keynote made the list at No. 25, after addresses by Winston Churchill, Adolf Hitler, John Kennedy and Ronald Reagan.

Ironically, the Kennedy (""Ich bin ein Berliner") and Reagan ("Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!") speeches were made in Berlin, not far from the spot where Obama spoke on Thursday evening. And the Hitler and Churchill speeches – respectively declaring Germany's determination to wage a world war and Britain's determination to win that war – were not unrelated to the city.

Such was the weight of history that Obama carried with him to the podium.

It was not just the crowd in Berlin that greeted him.

The whole world really was watching – including aides and allies of the McCain campaign who, frustrated by the success of their Democratic rival's global positioning, would be searching for some sign of a John Kerry-esque "Frenchness."

The McCain camp did not get what it was looking for.

Obama began his speech on a profoundly patriotic note.

I come to Berlin as so many of my countrymen have come before. Tonight, I speak to you not as a candidate for President, but as a citizen – a proud citizen of the United States, and a fellow citizen of the world.

I know that I don't look like the Americans who've previously spoken in this great city. The journey that led me here is improbable. My mother was born in the heartland of America, but my father grew up herding goats in Kenya. His father – my grandfather – was a cook, a domestic servant to the British.

At the height of the Cold War, my father decided, like so many others in the forgotten corners of the world, that his yearning – his dream – required the freedom and opportunity promised by the West. And so he wrote letter after letter to universities all across America until somebody, somewhere answered his prayer for a better life.

That is why I'm here. And you are here because you too know that yearning. This city, of all cities, knows the dream of freedom. And you know that the only reason we stand here tonight is because men and women from both of our nations came together to work, and struggle, and sacrifice for that better life.

That was good, but easy for a candidate who has made this rhetoric central to his appeal.

Where Obama hit his mark was with the bridge that linked his Americanism essay to the world. He did it as Kennedy and Reagan had before him, by celebrating the historic support of the United States for the people of a city that became the symbol of the Cold War.

Ours is a partnership that truly began sixty years ago this summer, on the day when the first American plane touched down at Templehof.

On that day, much of this continent still lay in ruin. The rubble of this city had yet to be built into a wall. The Soviet shadow had swept across Eastern Europe, while in the West, America, Britain, and France took stock of their losses, and pondered how the world might be remade.

This is where the two sides met. And on the twenty-fourth of June, 1948, the Communists chose to blockade the western part of the city. They cut off food and supplies to more than two million Germans in an effort to extinguish the last flame of freedom in Berlin.

The size of our forces was no match for the much larger Soviet Army. And yet retreat would have allowed Communism to march across Europe. Where the last war had ended, another World War could have easily begun. All that stood in the way was Berlin.

And that's when the airlift began – when the largest and most unlikely rescue in history brought food and hope to the people of this city.

The odds were stacked against success. In the winter, a heavy fog filled the sky above, and many planes were forced to turn back without dropping off the needed supplies. The streets where we stand were filled with hungry families who had no comfort from the cold.

But in the darkest hours, the people of Berlin kept the flame of hope burning. The people of Berlin refused to give up. And on one fall day, hundreds of thousands of Berliners came here, to the Tiergarten, and heard the city's mayor implore the world not to give up on freedom. "There is only one possibility," he said. "For us to stand together united until this battle is won…The people of Berlin have spoken. We have done our duty, and we will keep on doing our duty. People of the world: now do your duty…People of the world, look at Berlin!"

People of the world – look at Berlin!

Look at Berlin, where Germans and Americans learned to work together and trust each other less than three years after facing each other on the field of battle.

There was the theme.

There was the heart and the soul of Obama's message.

If reconciliation between the United States and Europe was possible after the battles of World War II, then surely it is possible after the battles of the Bush-Cheney era.

In Europe, the view that America is part of what has gone wrong in our world, rather than a force to help make it right, has become all too common. In America, there are voices that deride and deny the importance of Europe's role in our security and our future. Both views miss the truth – that Europeans today are bearing new burdens and taking more responsibility in critical parts of the world; and that just as American bases built in the last century still help to defend the security of this continent, so does our country still sacrifice greatly for freedom around the globe.

Yes, there have been differences between America and Europe. No doubt, there will be differences in the future. But the burdens of global citizenship continue to bind us together. A change of leadership in Washington will not lift this burden. In this new century, Americans and Europeans alike will be required to do more – not less. Partnership and cooperation among nations is not a choice; it is the one way, the only way, to protect our common security and advance our common humanity.

That is why the greatest danger of all is to allow new walls to divide us from one another.

The walls between old allies on either side of the Atlantic cannot stand. The walls between the countries with the most and those with the least cannot stand. The walls between races and tribes; natives and immigrants; Christian and Muslim and Jew cannot stand. These now are the walls we must tear down.

Yes, that was an echo of Ronald Reagan that Berlin and the world heard Thursday night.

To be sure, Obama's critics will do their best to miss it.

But those who chose to give the most significant international policy address yet delivered by the man who would be president an honest hearing will be hard-pressed to suggest that he did not stand as tall as the great communicator in Berlin.

Great speeches are rarely recognized for their significance at the time when they are delivered.

History makes them epic. Reagan's "tear down this wall" line became the stuff of history when the wall was torn down.

Obama's "the walls between old allies on either side of the Atlantic cannot stand" line will become the stuff of history if and when an Obama presidency achieves not just a reconciliation but a new era of global cooperation – on issues of peace, poverty and global warming.

That is a tall order.

Taller, indeed, than any of those placed before Obama when he began his improbable journey.

But on another historic night in Berlin, when the whole world was watching and listening, it seemed… possible.

Comments (95)

OBAMA : Storyteller and Dream-Catcher

Obama: Storyteller and Dream Catcher
draft 7.0 May 17 © Paschal Baute, 2008 (spell check 4/21)

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Becoming a storyteller, listening, owning his own story, heart connections, weaving others’ stories into his own; synthesizing hopes and dreams for a buy-in so that the story becomes the lisjeners’ own. Cautions are noted.

The sudden rise in public endorsement of the candidacy of Barack Obama is nothing short of phenomenal. Beginning only 16 months ago, the 46 year old U.S. Senator for only four years, a skinny guy with a funny face and funny name, has overtaken the well financed Democratic front runner in fund-raising, votes and delegates. He is now poised to capture the nomination of his party to run against the Republican nominee for the office of President. We offer that one of the main reason for he popularity and enthusiasm is his storytelling skill and art.

It is also striking that at the very time storytelling is experiencing a renaissance among many disciplines, with Financial Times rating Steve Denning’s The Secret Language of Leadership (Storytelling) as one of the best business books of 2007, while Annette Simmons Whoever Tells the Best Story wins,(how to own and tell one’s own story) , that this young politician steps up to the plate to illustrate the models that experienced storytellers commend.

This is not an endorsement of Obama’s politics nor of his candidacy for the highest office in the land. Political issues are not addressed. However, some dangers of charismatic leadership combined with masterful storytelling are noted.

So we raise these questions. 1. Are there several sources of Obama’s storytelling skills? 2. What are his skills? 3. How important is listening to his skill and his own story? 4. How well does he express experts in leadership via storytelling recommendations? 5. Beyond storytelling, Whence the skill in synthesizing and weaving narratives into his own? 6. Does his storytelling skills resemble that of other politicians? ?. 7 Is this a model for other leadership, even business leadership? 8. Shamanic dream catchers and cautions.

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1 WHAT ARE THE SOURCES OF HIS SKILLS?

Obama’s unusual background, child of a white Kansan mother and a black Kenyan father, who met in Hawaii was a rich story source. His mother and “Gramps” dealt with his father leaving when Obama was two years old with storytelling and myth-making, while the young Obama sorted out the differing versions. Significantly, he called his autobiography “Dreams from My Father.” In that memoir, one often finds the phrase “I can imagine...”

A large imagination is an asset for storytelling. As a storytelling friend said to me, “Imagination is the source of storytelling. Great imagination is the source of great storytelling.” Obama uses his large imagination and skill with words to write a deeply thoughtful and personal journal of his search for his roots.

Obama was exposed to different cultures: Hawaii, Indonesia, Los Angeles, New York, Harvard, and then Chicago. His first job after college was as a community organizer in the south side of Chicago. He listened to people in the projects and learned to so “wrap” their narratives to inspire motivation to change.

Owning one’s own story is a story-catching and story making skill. Obama had the opportunity to do this not only in his work and politicks up to ten years ago, but also in writing his autobiography Dreams of my Father.

It is clear that storytelling and myth-making was prominent of Obama’s early life since his father returned to Africa when he was two years old and never returned. His grandparents and mother told many stories about his father, narrated in Dreams of My Father.

post graduate reference. Also from B an Z. Better from his own bio. Community organizer first?
When Obama returned to Chicago, he turned down big-money firms to take a job with a small civil rights practice, filing housing discrimination suits on behalf of low-income residents and teaching constitutional law on the side. He had thought he might enter politics since before he left for law school, and eventually he did, winning a seat in the state Senate at the age of thirty-seven.

2 WHAT ARE HIS SKILLS?

Lt us ask “What is it?” Let me suggest it is four fold: First he has a unique background and educational diversity that lends itself to story; Second, hr listens well to how others live their lives, their hopes and dreams. Thirdly , he taps where they feel stuck in common with others, and many others, Thirdly, he can weave others stories with his own masterfully; Fourth, he raises our sights to the possibilities of something better. He evokes snot only where we have been as a people but where we summoned to be.

Stephen Denning describes Obama’s skill at the recent Jackson _ Jefferson dinner in Richmond, Virginia. (February 9, 2008):

[Obama] began with the story of who he is,[italics added] telling the story of the disadvantages he faced as a presidential candidate . . . This story seamlessly merged into a story of who we are: we are a people who are tired of the divisive politics of the past. This story then slid into the story of who we are going to be: we are a people who are going to write a new chapter in the history of American politics and get beyond partisan politics with a different kind of president, i.e. Obama. This was interwoven with the story of who we have been: we are the party of Jefferson, Jackson, FDR, and JFK—a party that has successfully tackled great challenges, proud inheritors of a grand tradition. He then went back and retold similar stories in the context of the economy, health care, education, global warming, foreign policy and then the Iraq war. In each case, the story of who he is flowed seamlessly into the story of who are and the problems we face, and then on to the story of who we are going to be: we have done this before: we can do it again. ( )

Denning also observes that Obama’s narrative style has four distinct characteristics. The story of “who I am” merges seamlessly with “who we are” then sliding into “who we are going to be,” strongly implying that this is not about me, It is about us.

Obama’s stories are tightly aligned with his own conduct, Denning proposes. He tells the story he is still living. His delivery, authentic and thoughtful leaves no doubt that he means what he says.

Then he does something else. He explicitly acknowledges the objections to his candidacy, inexperience, pretty words, then uses simple phrases to counter these attacks, to demonstrate they are unfounded. For example. “Experience in Washington is a problem, not a solution.”

But most important, says Denning, is that his version of the story of who we going to be cannot be realized by the other candidates. Only his campaign, in his narrative, has this imagination and this future. The other candidates are “the past,” We are “the future.”

3 HOW IMPORTANT IS LISTENING?

Obama grew up in a storytelling, myth-making home while living and learning the perspectives of several cultures: the cultural diversity in Hawaii, then in Indonesia, then returning to Hawaii to cope with being one of the four Black students in an International college prep school. After college and graduate school, first organizing people from the focus groups, he listened to their stories in order to motivate them to change their situations. Certainly the time he took to write his autobiography, Dreams of My Father, helped him listen more intently and understand his own story better. Annette Simmons, (Who Tells the Best Story Wins, 2007) insists that the best way to connect with the stories of others is to learn one’s own story well.

"We were doing a focus group in suburban Chicago, and this woman, seventy years old, looks seventy-five, hears Obama's life story, and she clasps her hand to her chest and says, 'Be still, my heart.' Be still, my heart — I've been doing this for a quarter century and I've never seen that." The most remarkable thing, for Harstad, was that the woman hadn't even seen the videos he had brought along of Obama speaking, had no idea what the young politician looked like. "All we'd done," he says, "is tell them the Story." From that moment on, the Story became Obama's calling card, his political rationale and his basic sale. Every American politician has this wrangle he has to pull off, reshaping his life story to fit into Abe Lincoln's log cabin.

(“ Barack Obama and the case for charisma,” Christian Science Monitor, Warren Bennis and Andy Selleke, February 28, 2008)

I suggest that when one accepts the uniqueness and giftedness of one’s own story, having framed personal setbacks as stepping stones, challenges and blessings, then one is more truly able to hear both the unique diversity and the common themes of others’ stories. One is more able to be fully present without assumptions and preoccupations.

True listening, says Simmons, is a way of being present to others where they are, even in their discomfort and alienation that has the risk of disconfirming our own views. This kind of listening is not easy, in fact, it is dangerous. Because it may challenge our own comfort frames. I get far more than I give in the previous program, because the stretching to embrace the challenge repeat addictive offenders face also stretches me. Regularly

“People crave confirmation of a self-image that makes them feel important, accepted, desirable and good. Ultimately all humans want the attention of other humans in a way that makes us feel important, desirable, powerful and alive. “(Simmons, p. 4)

In his campaigning travels across America, Obama collects personal anecdotes that serve to illustrate his ideas and then weaves them into his own personal narrative of “the Audacity of Hope.” As John McCormick notes, these narratives bring his speeches alive and serve to remind voters that he remains connected to their own hardships. (“The Storyteller,” Chicago Tribune, March 25, 2008). McCormick is talking here about the heart connection and buy in just described.

4 HOW WELL DOES OBAMA EXPRESS MODELS OF DENNING AND SIMMONS?

Creating desire Step number two for Steve Denning (The Secret Language of Leadership0 is “Eliciting Desire for a Different Future.” Leaders need to reach the heart as well as the mind and the heart actually comes first. “The audience has to want to change. To be effective, the leader needs to establish an emotional connection and stimulate desire for a different future.” Demming says that without the emotional connection, nothing happens and stimulating desire is the key. The insight here is that if the listener is going to change, they must own (buy in) the change idea. That is, they have to discover it for themselves (P. 33, 34) This, I believe is part of the secret power of Jesus’ parables, and also what Obama has learned to do. He has become masterful in obtaining a buy in to his ideas of changed to a different America.

5 BEYOND STORYTELLING, WHENCE THE SKILL IN SYNTHESIZING AND WEAVING NARRATIVES INTO HIS OWN?

Heart
What is remarkable to me is his ability to speak to the human heart. Look, he says, we share a common humanity with common dreams. When we get beyond our differences, we can begin to build a different and better future, by working together. Obama persuades his listeners that they are part of a bigger cause, something that makes us all better.

Obviously his experience as a community organizer taught him valuable life lessons. .In retrospect, Obama the law graduate in South Chicago may have had the best post graduate training possible as a community organizer. He listened to the problems of the people and then was able...

One of his skills in collecting stories and “catching dreams” is his ability to synthesize information in order to help connect these themes with his own story. Lawrence Tribe, the renowned constitutional scholar, considers Obama as one of the two best students he ever had at Harvard in his very powerful ability to synthesize diverse sources of information (quoted in “Destiny’s Child,” by Ben Wallace Wells, Rolling Stones, February 22, 2007)

6. IS THIS A MODEL FOR LEADERSHIP

In this ability, John Gapper (Financial Times. “Obama Still Has Some Lessons for Business, January 9, 2008 ), suggests that Obama is a role model fo business leaders who must themselves convince shareholders, managers and employees that their companies can an should change. Gapper says that even with voters disposed to be suspicious of politicians rhetoric, Obama showed in white Iowa that “voters can be rallied by a leader who makes them feel they are part of noble cause that is ]bigger than any individual.” Gapper reminds us that even in business, most people are eager to do something more than earn money and fill in time at work.

John Gapper’s excellent article in the Financial Times talks of the lessons that Barack Obama can teach business leaders.

Among these is that storytelling is crucial to business. “Many CEOs stand or fall by their ability to frame a story” says Gapper, “not only for investors or analysts about how they are turning a business around but for employees to engage them in making it happen”.

Clearly Senator Obama is a great storyteller, engaging the electorate in a compelling vision of a new America, and a noble cause that is bigger than any individual. In business too, as John Gapper says, most people are eager to do something more than earn money and fill in time at work. We believe that by sharing a compelling vision and engaging people in it, discretionary effort will be unleashed and sparkling performance will result. This is what makes good companies great. Paul Honeywell, web. 10 Jan 08
http://www.the-storytellers.com/archives/author/paul

Already, his storytelling skills are recognized as a model for CEOs to move employees and organizations. In Financial Times, John Gapper states: “[For]... business leaders who must themselves convince shareholders, managers and employees that their companies can and should change. Mr Obama, of all the presidential candidates, is the one from whom chief executives can draw the clearest lessons about leadership.” Gapper praises Obama’s personal qualities aside from speaking skills as role models for leaders.

6. DOES HIS STORYTELLING SKILLS RESEMBLE THAT OF OTHER POLITICIANS?

Obama’s knack for storytelling resemble that of the nation’s best politician in several ways. He has already been compared to Ronald Reagan. His art has strong similarities to Ronald Reagan's, according to a biographer of the 40th president. In many ways, Obama is the Great Communicator in Training.

And like Reagan, whose embellishments were well documented, Obama sometimes blurs the line slightly between fact and fiction (see sidebar). As any good storyteller knows, compressing all the details, while building drama, tension or emotion, is what hooks the listener or reader.

Like Reagan also, Obama practices and shapes his anecdotes. Reagan was known to practice a story as soon as he heard it. It takes considerable practice to so shape one’s own story to know how to relate it to the audience at hand.

In his first and unsuccessful run for public office, Illinois state incumbent, Obama did not use story. He assumed that his resume and background were sufficient. The next time he ran for office it was different. He had practiced and learned ways to tell stories and that of his own.

7 C0NCLUDNG REMARKS. Dream catcher.

Barack Obama is a story catcher and story weaver who listens well then connects these with his own story, inviting people to dare hope and dream with him. A skinny guy with a funny name, biracial background and funny face has millions believing in his candidacy for the highest office in this country. Talk about the power of story!

His storytelling has another aspect. Native American tradition held the dreamcatcher as a sacred object with healing effects. Here is one story.

"If you believe in the great spirit, the web will catch your good ideas -- and the bad ones will go through the hole." The Lakota elder passed on his vision to his people and now the Sioux Indians use the dream catcher as the web of their life. It is hung above their beds or in their home to sift their dreams and visions.

The good in their dreams are captured in the web of life and carried with them...but the evil in their dreams escapes through the hole in the center of the web and are no longer a part of them. They believe that the dream catcher holds the destiny of their future.(from The Gathering Place and the Navajo Co-op store http://www.cia-g.com/~gathplac/dreamcatcher_legend.htm)

The role of the ancient shaman was also to be a”dram-catcher,” through story and ritual help others access a greater power. Power animals were one source. But essentially the shaman called on the imagination and the belief system to inspire and heal. Just as a placebo has power to heal, so does the shamanic storyteller use dreams and beliefs to change human systems.

Barack Obama is not only a storyteller but, we suggest, a “Dream - Catcher of the American Spirit, offering a different vision, “the audacity of hope” to realize a greater American destiny. This inspiration has caught the minds and hearts of millions of Americans. He invites us to participate in making this happen, to believe: “Yes, we can!” Whether or not he has the skills to so lead remains to be seen. He faces daunting challenges, not only in the race this fall, but more so, if he is elected.

END.

Comment and feedback invited.
Paschal Baute
tel (859( 293 - 5302

Words: 2950/

Obama on Faith, Zanesville, Ohio, last week.

Here's the full text of the speech Barack gave a week ago to the folks in Zanesville, OH. If you've already heard it, then just delete.
- Jim

July 01, 2008
You've Got To Have Faith

Barack Obama makes a pitch in Zanesville, OH, today to expand President Bush's faith based programs, while affirming his belief in the separation between church and state. He'll propose a Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships to help these groups apply for federal dollars and, more broadly, to assist his administration in addressing the nation's poverty problem, among other issues.
"I know there are some who bristle at the notion that faith has a place in the public square. But the fact is, leaders in both parties have recognized the value of a partnership between the White House and faith-based groups. President Clinton signed legislation that opened the door for faith-based groups to play a role in a number of areas, including helping people move from welfare to work."

Remarks of Senator Barack Obama
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Zanesville, Ohio
You know, faith based groups like East Side Community Ministry carry a particular meaning for me. Because in a way, they're what led me into public service. It was a Catholic group called The Campaign for Human Development that helped fund the work I did many years ago in Chicago to help lift up neighborhoods that were devastated by the closure of a local steel plant.
Now, I didn't grow up in a particularly religious household. But my experience in Chicago showed me how faith and values could be an anchor in my life. And in time, I came to see my faith as being both a personal commitment to Christ and a commitment to my community; that while I could sit in church and pray all I want, I wouldn't be fulfilling God's will unless I went out and did the Lord's work.
There are millions of Americans who share a similar view of their faith, who feel they have an obligation to help others. And they're making a difference in communities all across this country - through initiatives like Ready4Work, which is helping ensure that ex-offenders don't return to a life of crime; or Catholic Charities, which is feeding the hungry and making sure we don't have homeless veterans sleeping on the streets of Chicago; or the good work that's being done by a coalition of religious groups to rebuild New Orleans.
You see, while these groups are often made up of folks who've come together around a common faith, they're usually working to help people of all faiths or of no faith at all. And they're particularly well-placed to offer help. As I've said many times, I believe that change comes not from the top-down, but from the bottom-up, and few are closer to the people than our churches, synagogues, temples, and mosques.
That's why Washington needs to draw on them. The fact is, the challenges we face today - from saving our planet to ending poverty - are simply too big for government to solve alone. We need all hands on deck.
I'm not saying that faith-based groups are an alternative to government or secular nonprofits. And I'm not saying that they're somehow better at lifting people up. What I'm saying is that we all have to work together - Christian and Jew, Hindu and Muslim; believer and non-believer alike - to meet the challenges of the 21st century.
Now, I know there are some who bristle at the notion that faith has a place in the public square. But the fact is, leaders in both parties have recognized the value of a partnership between the White House and faith-based groups. President Clinton signed legislation that opened the door for faith-based groups to play a role in a number of areas, including helping people move from welfare to work. Al Gore proposed a partnership between Washington and faith-based groups to provide more support for the least of these. And President Bush came into office with a promise to "rally the armies of compassion," establishing a new Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.
But what we saw instead was that the Office never fulfilled its promise. Support for social services to the poor and the needy have been consistently underfunded. Rather than promoting the cause of all faith-based organizations, former officials in the Office have described how it was used to promote partisan interests. As a result, the smaller congregations and community groups that were supposed to be empowered ended up getting short-changed.
Well, I still believe it's a good idea to have a partnership between the White House and grassroots groups, both faith-based and secular. But it has to be a real partnership - not a photo-op. That's what it will be when I'm President. I'll establish a new Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. The new name will reflect a new commitment. This Council will not just be another name on the White House organization chart - it will be a critical part of my administration.
Now, make no mistake, as someone who used to teach constitutional law, I believe deeply in the separation of church and state, but I don't believe this partnership will endanger that idea - so long as we follow a few basic principles. First, if you get a federal grant, you can't use that grant money to proselytize to the people you help and you can't discriminate against them - or against the people you hire - on the basis of their religion. Second, federal dollars that go directly to churches, temples, and mosques can only be used on secular programs. And we'll also ensure that taxpayer dollars only go to those programs that actually work.
With these principles as a guide, my Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships will strengthen faith-based groups by making sure they know the opportunities open to them to build on their good works. Too often, faith-based groups - especially smaller congregations and those that aren't well connected - don't know how to apply for federal dollars, or how to navigate a government website to see what grants are available, or how to comply with federal laws and regulations. We rely too much on conferences in Washington, instead of getting technical assistance to the people who need it on the ground. What this means is that what's stopping many faith-based groups from helping struggling families is simply a lack of knowledge about how the system works.
Well, that will change when I'm President. I will empower the nonprofit religious and community groups that do understand how this process works to train the thousands of groups that don't. We'll "train the trainers" by giving larger faith-based partners like Catholic Charities and Lutheran Services and secular nonprofits like Public/Private Ventures the support they need to help other groups build and run effective programs. Every house of worship that wants to run an effective program and that's willing to abide by our constitution - from the largest mega-churches and synagogues to the smallest store-front churches and mosques - can and will have access to the information and support they need to run that program.
This Council will also help target our efforts to meet key challenges like education. All across America, too many children simply can't read or perform math at their grade-level, a problem that grows worse for low-income students during the summer months and afterschool hours. Nonprofits like Children's Defense Fund are working to solve this problem. They hold summer and afterschool Freedom Schools in communities across this country, and many of their classes are held in churches.
There's a lot of evidence that these kinds of partnerships work. Take Youth Education for Tomorrow, an innovative program that's being run by churches, faith-based schools, and others in Philadelphia. To help narrow the summer learning gap, the YET program hires qualified teachers who help students with reading using proven learning techniques. They hold classes four days a week after school and during the summer. And they monitor progress closely. The results have been outstanding. Children who attended a YET center for at least six months improved nearly 2 years in reading ability. And the average high school student gained a full grade in reading level after just three months.
That's the kind of real progress that can be made when we empower faith-based organizations. And that's why as President, I'll expand summer programs like this to serve one million students. This won't just help our children learn, it will help keep them off the streets during the summer so they don't turn to crime.
And my Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships will also have a broader role - it will help set our national agenda. Because if we are going to do something about the injustice of millions of children living in extreme poverty, we need interfaith coalitions like the Let Justice Roll campaign standing up for the powerless. If we're going to end genocide and stop the scourge of HIV/AIDS, we need people of faith on Capitol Hill talking about how these challenges don't just represent a security crisis or a humanitarian crisis, but a moral crisis as well.
We know that faith and values can be a source of strength in our own lives. That's what it's been to me. And that's what it is to so many Americans. But it can also be something more. It can be the foundation of a new project of American renewal. And that's the kind of effort I intend to lead as President of the United States.


Jim McElhone
IT Manager
Ky Geological Survey
504 Rose Street, Rm 228
University of Ky.
Lexington, KY. 40506-0107

*

See winner of 30 second Obama clip

GO TO
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Obama in Lexington in Video Youtube

Barack Obama in Lexington Ky in video YouTube. See

http://www.hillbillyreport.com/blog/2007/08/barack-obama-in.html

Storyteller and Dream-Catcher: Leadership of Barack Obama.

Obama: Storyteller and Dream Catcher
draft 7.0 May 17 © Paschal Baute, 2008 (spell check 4/21)

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Becoming a storyteller, listening, owning his own story, heart connections, weaving others’ stories into his own; synthesizing hopes and dreams for a buy-in so that the story becomes the lisjeners’ own. Cautions are noted.

The sudden rise in public endorsement of the candidacy of Barack Obama is nothing short of phenomenal. Beginning only 16 months ago, the 46 year old U.S. Senator for only four years, a skinny guy with a funny face and funny name, has overtaken the well financed Democratic front runner in fund-raising, votes and delegates. He is now poised to capture the nomination of his party to run against the Republican nominee for the office of President. We offer that one of the main reason for he popularity and enthusiasm is his storytelling skill and art.

It is also striking that at the very time storytelling is experiencing a renaissance among many disciplines, with Financial Times rating Steve Denning’s The Secret Language of Leadership (Storytelling) as one of the best business books of 2007, while Annette Simmons Whoever Tells the Best Story wins,(how to own and tell one’s own story) , that this young politician steps up to the plate to illustrate the models that experienced storytellers commend.

This is not an endorsement of Obama’s politics nor of his candidacy for the highest office in the land. Political issues are not addressed. However, some dangers of charismatic leadership combined with masterful storytelling are noted.

So we raise these questions. 1. Are there several sources of Obama’s storytelling skills? 2. What are his skills? 3. How important is listening to his skill and his own story? 4. How well does he express experts in leadership via storytelling recommendations? 5. Beyond storytelling, Whence the skill in synthesizing and weaving narratives into his own? 6. Does his storytelling skills resemble that of other politicians? ?. 7 Is this a model for other leadership, even business leadership? 8. Shamanic dream catchers and cautions.

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1 WHAT ARE THE SOURCES OF HIS SKILLS?

Obama’s unusual background, child of a white Kansan mother and a black Kenyan father, who met in Hawaii was a rich story source. His mother and “Gramps” dealt with his father leaving when Obama was two years old with storytelling and myth-making, while the young Obama sorted out the differing versions. Significantly, he called his autobiography “Dreams from My Father.” In that memoir, one often finds the phrase “I can imagine...”

A large imagination is an asset for storytelling. As a storytelling friend said to me, “Imagination is the source of storytelling. Great imagination is the source of great storytelling.” Obama uses his large imagination and skill with words to write a deeply thoughtful and personal journal of his search for his roots.

Obama was exposed to different cultures: Hawaii, Indonesia, Los Angeles, New York, Harvard, and then Chicago. His first job after college was as a community organizer in the south side of Chicago. He listened to people in the projects and learned to so “wrap” their narratives to inspire motivation to change.

Owning one’s own story is a story-catching and story making skill. Obama had the opportunity to do this not only in his work and politicks up to ten years ago, but also in writing his autobiography Dreams of my Father.

It is clear that storytelling and myth-making was prominent of Obama’s early life since his father returned to Africa when he was two years old and never returned. His grandparents and mother told many stories about his father, narrated in Dreams of My Father.

post graduate reference. Also from B an Z. Better from his own bio. Community organizer first?
When Obama returned to Chicago, he turned down big-money firms to take a job with a small civil rights practice, filing housing discrimination suits on behalf of low-income residents and teaching constitutional law on the side. He had thought he might enter politics since before he left for law school, and eventually he did, winning a seat in the state Senate at the age of thirty-seven.

2 WHAT ARE HIS SKILLS?

Lt us ask “What is it?” Let me suggest it is four fold: First he has a unique background and educational diversity that lends itself to story; Second, hr listens well to how others live their lives, their hopes and dreams. Thirdly , he taps where they feel stuck in common with others, and many others, Thirdly, he can weave others stories with his own masterfully; Fourth, he raises our sights to the possibilities of something better. He evokes snot only where we have been as a people but where we summoned to be.

Stephen Denning describes Obama’s skill at the recent Jackson _ Jefferson dinner in Richmond, Virginia. (February 9, 2008):

[Obama] began with the story of who he is,[italics added] telling the story of the disadvantages he faced as a presidential candidate . . . This story seamlessly merged into a story of who we are: we are a people who are tired of the divisive politics of the past. This story then slid into the story of who we are going to be: we are a people who are going to write a new chapter in the history of American politics and get beyond partisan politics with a different kind of president, i.e. Obama. This was interwoven with the story of who we have been: we are the party of Jefferson, Jackson, FDR, and JFK—a party that has successfully tackled great challenges, proud inheritors of a grand tradition. He then went back and retold similar stories in the context of the economy, health care, education, global warming, foreign policy and then the Iraq war. In each case, the story of who he is flowed seamlessly into the story of who are and the problems we face, and then on to the story of who we are going to be: we have done this before: we can do it again. ( )

Denning also observes that Obama’s narrative style has four distinct characteristics. The story of “who I am” merges seamlessly with “who we are” then sliding into “who we are going to be,” strongly implying that this is not about me, It is about us.

Obama’s stories are tightly aligned with his own conduct, Denning proposes. He tells the story he is still living. His delivery, authentic and thoughtful leaves no doubt that he means what he says.

Then he does something else. He explicitly acknowledges the objections to his candidacy, inexperience, pretty words, then uses simple phrases to counter these attacks, to demonstrate they are unfounded. For example. “Experience in Washington is a problem, not a solution.”

But most important, says Denning, is that his version of the story of who we going to be cannot be realized by the other candidates. Only his campaign, in his narrative, has this imagination and this future. The other candidates are “the past,” We are “the future.”

3 HOW IMPORTANT IS LISTENING?

Obama grew up in a storytelling, myth-making home while living and learning the perspectives of several cultures: the cultural diversity in Hawaii, then in Indonesia, then returning to Hawaii to cope with being one of the four Black students in an International college prep school. After college and graduate school, first organizing people from the focus groups, he listened to their stories in order to motivate them to change their situations. Certainly the time he took to write his autobiography, Dreams of My Father, helped him listen more intently and understand his own story better. Annette Simmons, (Who Tells the Best Story Wins, 2007) insists that the best way to connect with the stories of others is to learn one’s own story well.

"We were doing a focus group in suburban Chicago, and this woman, seventy years old, looks seventy-five, hears Obama's life story, and she clasps her hand to her chest and says, 'Be still, my heart.' Be still, my heart — I've been doing this for a quarter century and I've never seen that." The most remarkable thing, for Harstad, was that the woman hadn't even seen the videos he had brought along of Obama speaking, had no idea what the young politician looked like. "All we'd done," he says, "is tell them the Story." From that moment on, the Story became Obama's calling card, his political rationale and his basic sale. Every American politician has this wrangle he has to pull off, reshaping his life story to fit into Abe Lincoln's log cabin.

(“ Barack Obama and the case for charisma,” Christian Science Monitor, Warren Bennis and Andy Selleke, February 28, 2008)

I suggest that when one accepts the uniqueness and giftedness of one’s own story, having framed personal setbacks as stepping stones, challenges and blessings, then one is more truly able to hear both the unique diversity and the common themes of others’ stories. One is more able to be fully present without assumptions and preoccupations.

True listening, says Simmons, is a way of being present to others where they are, even in their discomfort and alienation that has the risk of disconfirming our own views. This kind of listening is not easy, in fact, it is dangerous. Because it may challenge our own comfort frames. I get far more than I give in the previous program, because the stretching to embrace the challenge repeat addictive offenders face also stretches me. Regularly

“People crave confirmation of a self-image that makes them feel important, accepted, desirable and good. Ultimately all humans want the attention of other humans in a way that makes us feel important, desirable, powerful and alive. “(Simmons, p. 4)

In his campaigning travels across America, Obama collects personal anecdotes that serve to illustrate his ideas and then weaves them into his own personal narrative of “the Audacity of Hope.” As John McCormick notes, these narratives bring his speeches alive and serve to remind voters that he remains connected to their own hardships. (“The Storyteller,” Chicago Tribune, March 25, 2008). McCormick is talking here about the heart connection and buy in just described.

4 HOW WELL DOES OBAMA EXPRESS MODELS OF DENNING AND SIMMONS?

Creating desire Step number two for Steve Denning (The Secret Language of Leadership0 is “Eliciting Desire for a Different Future.” Leaders need to reach the heart as well as the mind and the heart actually comes first. “The audience has to want to change. To be effective, the leader needs to establish an emotional connection and stimulate desire for a different future.” Demming says that without the emotional connection, nothing happens and stimulating desire is the key. The insight here is that if the listener is going to change, they must own (buy in) the change idea. That is, they have to discover it for themselves (P. 33, 34) This, I believe is part of the secret power of Jesus’ parables, and also what Obama has learned to do. He has become masterful in obtaining a buy in to his ideas of changed to a different America.

5 BEYOND STORYTELLING, WHENCE THE SKILL IN SYNTHESIZING AND WEAVING NARRATIVES INTO HIS OWN?

Heart
What is remarkable to me is his ability to speak to the human heart. Look, he says, we share a common humanity with common dreams. When we get beyond our differences, we can begin to build a different and better future, by working together. Obama persuades his listeners that they are part of a bigger cause, something that makes us all better.

Obviously his experience as a community organizer taught him valuable life lessons. .In retrospect, Obama the law graduate in South Chicago may have had the best post graduate training possible as a community organizer. He listened to the problems of the people and then was able...

One of his skills in collecting stories and “catching dreams” is his ability to synthesize information in order to help connect these themes with his own story. Lawrence Tribe, the renowned constitutional scholar, considers Obama as one of the two best students he ever had at Harvard in his very powerful ability to synthesize diverse sources of information (quoted in “Destiny’s Child,” by Ben Wallace Wells, Rolling Stones, February 22, 2007)

6. IS THIS A MODEL FOR LEADERSHIP

In this ability, John Gapper (Financial Times. “Obama Still Has Some Lessons for Business, January 9, 2008 ), suggests that Obama is a role model fo business leaders who must themselves convince shareholders, managers and employees that their companies can an should change. Gapper says that even with voters disposed to be suspicious of politicians rhetoric, Obama showed in white Iowa that “voters can be rallied by a leader who makes them feel they are part of noble cause that is ]bigger than any individual.” Gapper reminds us that even in business, most people are eager to do something more than earn money and fill in time at work.

John Gapper’s excellent article in the Financial Times talks of the lessons that Barack Obama can teach business leaders.

Among these is that storytelling is crucial to business. “Many CEOs stand or fall by their ability to frame a story” says Gapper, “not only for investors or analysts about how they are turning a business around but for employees to engage them in making it happen”.

Clearly Senator Obama is a great storyteller, engaging the electorate in a compelling vision of a new America, and a noble cause that is bigger than any individual. In business too, as John Gapper says, most people are eager to do something more than earn money and fill in time at work. We believe that by sharing a compelling vision and engaging people in it, discretionary effort will be unleashed and sparkling performance will result. This is what makes good companies great. Paul Honeywell, web. 10 Jan 08
http://www.the-storytellers.com/archives/author/paul

Already, his storytelling skills are recognized as a model for CEOs to move employees and organizations. In Financial Times, John Gapper states: “[For]... business leaders who must themselves convince shareholders, managers and employees that their companies can and should change. Mr Obama, of all the presidential candidates, is the one from whom chief executives can draw the clearest lessons about leadership.” Gapper praises Obama’s personal qualities aside from speaking skills as role models for leaders.

6. DOES HIS STORYTELLING SKILLS RESEMBLE THAT OF OTHER POLITICIANS?

Obama’s knack for storytelling resemble that of the nation’s best politician in several ways. He has already been compared to Ronald Reagan. His art has strong similarities to Ronald Reagan's, according to a biographer of the 40th president. In many ways, Obama is the Great Communicator in Training.

And like Reagan, whose embellishments were well documented, Obama sometimes blurs the line slightly between fact and fiction (see sidebar). As any good storyteller knows, compressing all the details, while building drama, tension or emotion, is what hooks the listener or reader.

Like Reagan also, Obama practices and shapes his anecdotes. Reagan was known to practice a story as soon as he heard it. It takes considerable practice to so shape one’s own story to know how to relate it to the audience at hand.

In his first and unsuccessful run for public office, Illinois state incumbent, Obama did not use story. He assumed that his resume and background were sufficient. The next time he ran for office it was different. He had practiced and learned ways to tell stories and that of his own.

7 C0NCLUDNG REMARKS. Dream catcher.

Barack Obama is a story catcher and story weaver who listens well then connects these with his own story, inviting people to dare hope and dream with him. A skinny guy with a funny name, biracial background and funny face has millions believing in his candidacy for the highest office in this country. Talk about the power of story!

His storytelling has another aspect. Native American tradition held the dreamcatcher as a sacred object with healing effects. Here is one story.

"If you believe in the great spirit, the web will catch your good ideas -- and the bad ones will go through the hole." The Lakota elder passed on his vision to his people and now the Sioux Indians use the dream catcher as the web of their life. It is hung above their beds or in their home to sift their dreams and visions.

The good in their dreams are captured in the web of life and carried with them...but the evil in their dreams escapes through the hole in the center of the web and are no longer a part of them. They believe that the dream catcher holds the destiny of their future.(from The Gathering Place and the Navajo Co-op store http://www.cia-g.com/~gathplac/dreamcatcher_legend.htm)

The role of the ancient shaman was also to be a”dram-catcher,” through story and ritual help others access a greater power. Power animals were one source. But essentially the shaman called on the imagination and the belief system to inspire and heal. Just as a placebo has power to heal, so does the shamanic storyteller use dreams and beliefs to change human systems.

Barack Obama is not only a storyteller but, we suggest, a “Dream - Catcher of the American Spirit, offering a different vision, “the audacity of hope” to realize a greater American destiny. This inspiration has caught the minds and hearts of millions of Americans. He invites us to participate in making this happen, to believe: “Yes, we can!” Whether or not he has the skills to so lead remains to be seen. He faces daunting challenges, not only in the race this fall, but more so, if he is elected.

END.

Comment and feedback invited.
Paschal Baute
tel (859( 293 - 5302

Words: 2950/