Obama with Obamalac, Fairfield IA 3 July 2007

His smile is genuine and he is genuine! He has seen the car before but this is the first time he saw it with the Obama 08 decals.

Clifton Advocate.com Blog, Clifton Illinois

Former Clifton resident, Rich Miller, is making national news with his Obamalac, a 1963 Cadillac convertible he has decked out for Senator Barack Obama’s campaign. Miller, who calls himself "The REAL Rich Miller, is the father of syndicated columnist, Rich Miller, whose "Capitol Fax" appears in The Advocate and many other Illinois newspapers. The elder Miller became an Obama fan after hearing him speak on the campaign trail leading up to his election as Illinois Senator. Miller has since taken the Obamalac to several midwestern political rallies. The vehicle, a head-turner, has appeared in The Washington Post and New York Times. Not to be outdone by his journalist son, the elder Miller also has an Internet blog at obamalac.com .

At the Red Door Resturant, Gilman, IL

Jamie Eden sent in this picture taken in Iroquois County, IL, 26 July. I was " On the Road for Obama!"

"The Wild Card Election"

All of the presidential candidates are busy making stump speeches to get their message out. Their campaigns are very well summarized in the July 16th US News and World Report edition entitled "An Election Like no Other." One particularly noteworth article in the issue is “The Wild-Card Elections", subtitled “The Old Rules Don’t Matter. Here’s an Inside Look at What May be a Once-in-a-Lifetime Campaign.”

The article contends that the campaign has started months earlier than usual, America is undergoing profound change which will make this election different, and the election could be on par with the most important elections in history. The print article features a picture of the Obamalac, Hillary, Romney, and Giuliani. The online article features only the Obamalac. For the online article, take a look here.

Barack with the Obamalac

From the AP. Fairfield, Iowa, 3 July. He's seen the car before but this is the first time he's seen it with the decals on. This car hauled Obama for Senate signs to Rock Island, Moline, and East Moline homes back when he was in the state senate working for the people.

What a smile! He's come a long way and he's going even further!

4th of July Parade

Bettendorf Iowa 4th of July parade. From the Iowans for Barack web site.


The day started with a morning parade, and to fit in with the old fashioned theme, we sported a ’63 Cadillac convertible with “OBAMA 08” decals on both sides (nicknamed the ‘Obamalac’). If that weren’t enough of a spectacle, the huge number of volunteers walking alongside the car wearing Obama t-shirts, while passing out Jolly Ranchers and Obama for America stickers certainly caused us to stand out.

In all, it was a great old fashioned Fourth. We got to spread the word about Barack to so many people, hand out tons of stickers and signs, and some of us even learned how to paint faces.
And, of course, we had the privilege of walking in a parade next to the Obamalac.

The Time Is Now

As a young man I remember hearing about the slogan "We'll Be Free By '63!" Back in the 1950's that was a slogan of future promise to people of color. The slogan asked for their patience for a better time to come.

When I had the graphics people make the signs for the Obamalac, I added the "The Time Is Now" as a display line. To me it means Obama is our candidate today, not our black candidate for the future. And he doesn't need to wait for "his turn" like Bob Dole, both Bushes, McCain, Al Gore, Hillary and so many others.

This picture was taken by the Washington Post. There was an AP story about one of the TM guys at Fairfield telling me how the time is always now. As you can imagine we had a very short discussion. I was surprised while watching Tucker on MSNBC last week when his guest, Cliff May, said the comment was his favorite part of the Fairfield story. I'll post the MSNBC transcript when they release it. BOTTOM LINE: It's my car, It's my line, and He's my candidate, today! THE TIME IS NOW!

Extract from MSNBC web site:

TUCKER CARLSON:
Here with a definitive answer to those questions, the President of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracy‘s Cliff May. And “Newsweek‘s” Senior White House Correspondent Richard Wolffe. (6 July discussion of Obama's Fairfield Iowa appearance on 3 July)

MAY: Tucker, I don‘t think Americans like empathy. Let me say that. But my favorite part of the story is the Obama supporter who had written on his car the time is now. And a Maharishi follower said but the time is always now.
WOLFFE: Very creative reporting. I hand it to the Politic there. But I was there in that crowd. You could not tell that was a Maharishi crowd. Fairfield does exist as a real place beyond people doing Yoga and transcendental meditation.