Message Preview
From: Your Name <you@example.com>
To: dplouffe@barackobama.com, shildebrand@barackobama.com, eholder@cov.com
Subject: Having Nunn of It
Your Personal Statement
I was saddened to read in the June 16th Boston Globe that Sam Nunn is being considered by the Obama campaign as a potential running mate. Let us be clear: Sam Nunn is an unacceptable choice for the vice presidency, for three main reasons:
1) Sam Nunn is a homophobe.
Nunn has a long record of prejudice against gays and lesbians. It dates back at least to 1981 and '82, when Nunn forced at least two high-ranking staffers on the Senate Armed Service Committee to resign because of their sexual orientation. In 1996, he voted against banning such discrimination against gays and lesbians and for the infamous Defense of Marriage Act.
Most importantly, though, he led the charge opposing Bill Clinton's effort to allow LGBT persons to serve their country openly in the armed forces. He toured the sleeping quarters of a U.S. Navy submarine, with press present, intending to show what it would be like to have gays and lesbians serving alongside straight sailors. According to Aaron Belkin of the University of California - Santa Barbara, Don't Ask Don't Tell would never have become a reality without Nunn's intervention. Nunn was a startlingly effective, and viciously bigoted anti-gay activist during his time in the Senate. As the submarine tour shows, he was not above channeling base, "yuck factor"-based objections to homosexuality in service of his retrograde policy views. Even today, he only says he'd "reconsider" Don't Ask Don't Tell, and insists he was right in 1993. A Democratic party that cares about the rights of all citizens should not include him on a presidential ticket.
2) Sam Nunn is a bad Democrat.
Nunn has always associated with the more conservative, anti-progressive wing of the Democratic party. Nunn was so conservative during his time in the Senate that he voted against the 1993 budget bill, the bill that set the foundation for the first balanced budgets in decades, and the robust '90s economy.
He has only gotten worse since leaving the Senate in 1996, serving on the boards of Chevron and General Electric. In a year where the Democratic message must be focused on stopping global warming and ending the war, a vice presidential nominee who benefits from the burning of fossil fuels and the war profiteering of contractors like GE is unacceptable.
Perhaps most insulting, however, was Nunn's open flirtation with a third-party run for president. In August 2007, Nunn publicly stated he was considering running for the nomination of Unity '08. Is it so much to ask that the Democratic nominee for vice president be, at the very least, consistently supportive of the Democratic ticket?
3) Sam Nunn represents the past.
Sam Nunn was born in 1938. He is 69 now, and will be 70 by the time Obama is inaugurated - older than Ronald Reagan was upon taking office. If he serves two terms, he will be 78 - three years older than Alben Barkley, the previous record-holder for oldest vice president.
This may seem like political trivia, or, worse, ageism, but it matters. It means that Nunn - unlike past VP nominees like John Edwards, Al Gore, and Walter Mondale - will not be in a position to succeed his president. This means a potentially brutal primary campaign - not unlike this year's - would be likely. It also means missing an opportunity to boost one of the party's lesser-known stars - people like Kathleen Sebelius, Brian Schweitzer, and John Kitzhaber - to national prominence.
What's more, one of Obama's main advantages in a general election - his message of change - would falter if he were to pick Nunn. To pick a contemporary of John McCain, someone who's been in Washington since 1972, someone who hasn't been in elected office since 1996, would make Obama seem less like a candidate of change and new ideas, and more like just another politician of the past. That's a change in image that the Democratic campaign cannot afford.
We cannot let Obama pick Sam Nunn as his runningmate. Those of us who worked on the Obama campaign in the primary have worked too hard to be betrayed like that. Those who supported Clinton, Edwards, or one of the other candidates deserve better than a reactionary like Nunn. Please, do what you can to prevent Sam Nunn from becoming Obama's running mate.
Your Name
Your Organization
123 Your St.
Yousville, YO 12345
Phone: (123)456-7890
Fax: (123)456-7890x123
--
Delivered by CitizenSpeak!
Report abuse to abuse@citizenspeak.org [1307]
To: dplouffe@barackobama.com, shildebrand@barackobama.com, eholder@cov.com
Subject: Having Nunn of It
Your Personal Statement
I was saddened to read in the June 16th Boston Globe that Sam Nunn is being considered by the Obama campaign as a potential running mate. Let us be clear: Sam Nunn is an unacceptable choice for the vice presidency, for three main reasons:
1) Sam Nunn is a homophobe.
Nunn has a long record of prejudice against gays and lesbians. It dates back at least to 1981 and '82, when Nunn forced at least two high-ranking staffers on the Senate Armed Service Committee to resign because of their sexual orientation. In 1996, he voted against banning such discrimination against gays and lesbians and for the infamous Defense of Marriage Act.
Most importantly, though, he led the charge opposing Bill Clinton's effort to allow LGBT persons to serve their country openly in the armed forces. He toured the sleeping quarters of a U.S. Navy submarine, with press present, intending to show what it would be like to have gays and lesbians serving alongside straight sailors. According to Aaron Belkin of the University of California - Santa Barbara, Don't Ask Don't Tell would never have become a reality without Nunn's intervention. Nunn was a startlingly effective, and viciously bigoted anti-gay activist during his time in the Senate. As the submarine tour shows, he was not above channeling base, "yuck factor"-based objections to homosexuality in service of his retrograde policy views. Even today, he only says he'd "reconsider" Don't Ask Don't Tell, and insists he was right in 1993. A Democratic party that cares about the rights of all citizens should not include him on a presidential ticket.
2) Sam Nunn is a bad Democrat.
Nunn has always associated with the more conservative, anti-progressive wing of the Democratic party. Nunn was so conservative during his time in the Senate that he voted against the 1993 budget bill, the bill that set the foundation for the first balanced budgets in decades, and the robust '90s economy.
He has only gotten worse since leaving the Senate in 1996, serving on the boards of Chevron and General Electric. In a year where the Democratic message must be focused on stopping global warming and ending the war, a vice presidential nominee who benefits from the burning of fossil fuels and the war profiteering of contractors like GE is unacceptable.
Perhaps most insulting, however, was Nunn's open flirtation with a third-party run for president. In August 2007, Nunn publicly stated he was considering running for the nomination of Unity '08. Is it so much to ask that the Democratic nominee for vice president be, at the very least, consistently supportive of the Democratic ticket?
3) Sam Nunn represents the past.
Sam Nunn was born in 1938. He is 69 now, and will be 70 by the time Obama is inaugurated - older than Ronald Reagan was upon taking office. If he serves two terms, he will be 78 - three years older than Alben Barkley, the previous record-holder for oldest vice president.
This may seem like political trivia, or, worse, ageism, but it matters. It means that Nunn - unlike past VP nominees like John Edwards, Al Gore, and Walter Mondale - will not be in a position to succeed his president. This means a potentially brutal primary campaign - not unlike this year's - would be likely. It also means missing an opportunity to boost one of the party's lesser-known stars - people like Kathleen Sebelius, Brian Schweitzer, and John Kitzhaber - to national prominence.
What's more, one of Obama's main advantages in a general election - his message of change - would falter if he were to pick Nunn. To pick a contemporary of John McCain, someone who's been in Washington since 1972, someone who hasn't been in elected office since 1996, would make Obama seem less like a candidate of change and new ideas, and more like just another politician of the past. That's a change in image that the Democratic campaign cannot afford.
We cannot let Obama pick Sam Nunn as his runningmate. Those of us who worked on the Obama campaign in the primary have worked too hard to be betrayed like that. Those who supported Clinton, Edwards, or one of the other candidates deserve better than a reactionary like Nunn. Please, do what you can to prevent Sam Nunn from becoming Obama's running mate.
Your Name
Your Organization
123 Your St.
Yousville, YO 12345
Phone: (123)456-7890
Fax: (123)456-7890x123
--
Delivered by CitizenSpeak!
Report abuse to abuse@citizenspeak.org [1307]
