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TechnoratiPush Obama to Follow Through on Peace Vows
It started with a train ride. Barack Obama rode to Washington, D.C., for his presidential inauguration on a whistle-stop tour. "To the children who hear the whistle of the train and dream of a better life -- that's who we're fighting for," Obama said along the tour, which was compared to the train ride taken by Abraham Lincoln from Springfield, Ill., to Washington, D.C., in February 1861, en route to his first inauguration.
The comparisons between Obama and Lincoln abound, describing the arc between the abolition of slavery in the United States and the election of the first African-American president. The train holds a deeper symbolism, though, that undergirds Obama's historic ascension to the White House, harking back to the civil-rights struggle, reflecting the unprecedented grass-roots activism that formed the core of the Obama campaign and laying out where the nation under the Obama administration might go.
A. Philip Randolph was a legendary labor organizer and civil-rights leader. He organized the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the men who tended to the overnight guests on the sleeper cars that Pullman built. While the porter positions were better-paying than many jobs available to African-Americans at the time, there were still injustices and indignities. The common practice, for example, was to call the porters "George," regardless of their real name, after the owner of the company, George Pullman. Thousands of porters sought improvements through collective bargaining. (Ironically, after Pullman's death in 1897, the Pullman Company was run by Abe Lincoln's only surviving son, Robert Todd Lincoln, until the mid-1920s.) Randolph's organizing struggle took 12 years, starting in 1925 and going through the economic collapse of 1929 and into the Franklin Delano Roosevelt administration.
Harry Belafonte recalled in an interview with Tavis Smiley recently a story he was told by Eleanor Roosevelt. She related a public event when her husband, FDR, introduced A. Philip Randolph and asked him, Belafonte recalled, "what he thought of the nation, what he thought of the plight of the Negro people and what did he think ... where the nation was headed." Continuing the story, Belafonte recounted what FDR replied upon hearing Randolph's remarks: "You know, Mr. Randolph, I've heard everything you've said tonight, and I couldn't agree with you more. I agree with everything that you've said, including my capacity to be able to right many of these wrongs and to use my power and the bully pulpit. ... But I would ask one thing of you, Mr. Randolph, and that is go out and make me do it."
This story was retold by Barack Obama at a campaign fundraiser in Montclair, N.J., more than a year ago. It was in response to a person asking Obama about finding a just solution to the Israel/Palestine conflict. After recounting the Randolph story, Obama said he was just one person, that he couldn't do it alone. Obama's final answer: "Make me do it."
That's the challenge.
After settling the Pullman labor struggle, A. Philip Randolph continued on. He challenged FDR, by beginning to organize a march on Washington set for 1941, to desegregate the military and to ensure that the economic activity around the war effort was equally available to African-Americans. FDR issued an executive order, and later, President Harry S. Truman desegregated the military. Randolph, Bayard Rustin and Martin Luther King Jr. organized the 1963 March on Washington, which itself has served as a strong symbolic backdrop to Obama's victory. This historic weekend also coincided with Dr. King's birthday. If King had survived, he would have just turned 80 years old.
As Obama begins his first week as president, some might caution that it's only fair to wait and see what he might do. But the peace group Code Pink is not waiting. Along the inaugural parade route, they were handing out thousands of pink ribbons, encouraging people to join them in holding President Obama to his campaign peace promises: End the war in Iraq; shut down Guantanamo; reject the Military Commissions Act; stop torture; work to eliminate nuclear weapons; hold direct, unconditional talks with Iran; and abide by Senate-approved international treaties.
Just follow Obama's own advice: Make him do it.
41 Comments so far
Show AllWithout someplace else to go, liberals and progressives will be betrayed.
Without leverage on the Democrats -- which obviously we don't have --
neither Obama nor the Democrats will be listening to these voters with no
options. Simply look at Pelosi and Reid's behavior in refunding the wars
over the past two years!
Further with the DLC front and center in this administration,
expect more Republicanism.
"According to all myth, the female - not the male -- gives life"
Amy Goodman wrote:"Push Obama to Follow Through on Peace Vows"
And may I ask, how we PUSH OBAMA...
Amy Goodman with the rest of the so called progressives are still
dreaming and fantasizing.
Obama is gifted orator and he gives great speeches.
But talk is cheap and he is also a talented actor and bull-shit artist.
It is obvious even to the blind that Obama will bring NO REAL CHANGE. Just
look at his cabinet choices and his foreign policy and economic teams.!!
The wars will continue and the taking from the middle class and the poor and
giving it to the super-rich will continue. And yes, the great oratory will also continue.
OBam's Inauguration speech
part 2
Instead of declaring that Bush’s Policies, which has brought disrepute to the ideal’s of this nation would be abandoned, he complemented Bush.
Instead of declaring to the world that Never again he would permit the leaders of this nation take us to the wrong war by lies and deceits and declaring to the world that we follow Human Rights and respect supremacy of truth in our conducts, he sat down Collin Powell in front row and defended militarism.
Instead of declaring , never again America would torture innocent human beings, and he has ordered his Justice department to prosecute anyone who has violated the international laws, he praised Bush. Instead of declaring to the world that never again America would keep silent while its military arsenals are being used to destroy 22000 houses in Gaza and murdering more that 1200 women and children and more than 6000 seriously wounded, in the Biggest Concentration Camp in history, he could have said he would try to bring peace to Palestinians and end their carnage!
No, for 24 days he kept silent and still is waving his Israeli flag, not thinking what is good for the United States must take preference over the interest of another nation.. We need markets for our products and 1.5 Billion Muslims would be our customers, only if we show the olive branch. The president must be the greatest salesman for America and he failed to get their attention.
He is a great Achiever and he knows Black Americans psychology, so he wants to keep them happy by his rhetorical lesson of success; but his lesson as a son of Kenyan, has nothing to do with black history and how the American society should uplift them. Afro-American psychological happiness with him actually is counterproductive. That is why many Neo-cons are celebrating the end of Al Sharpton, jessie Jackson and others old Civil Right leaders; but, Civil Rights movement would not die and must regroup and do not permit individual achievement of blacks cloud their group oppression.
.In Contrast to vividness of Obama, the speech was unusually dull, abstract and lacked any reference to people or situations in the present. The concepts, and the argument on which the speech hung was lifeless. They were neither original nor compelling.
Nothing in the speech rings true!. America's success in the past was based on people who "struggled and sacrificed and worked." he concludes that “ What we need now is a "new era of responsibility." It means Bush and Co. did nothing wrong; but we the people, as powerless as we were, are the reason for our troubling economy. Our generation is at fault. Now we have to start changing our behavior. Nothing about FISA , that he voted for , nothing about the fabricated War on Terror, that has scared us from our own shadows; nothing about extra-ordinary renditions; nothing about lies to get us into the War; nothing about the cost of war that he voted for it every time Bush asked; nothing about stopping the war now to stop bleeding, but we are in trouble now is because the present generation has acted irresponsibly. Is that really at the heart of America's difficulties at home or in the world? It has the ring of Neo-Cons Biblical prophecies, but not of grain of truth.
Obama did not say anything about the nature of challenges facing us. Or he said is:" Our nation is at war against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred,"! This is nonsense! Our nation is at war with people who love us but hate their own oppressive government. There is no danger from Al Quaeda or Hamas , even after 5 years of torture in variety of torture chambers the CIA, Bush administration, Justice department , FBI investigation, Military Kangaroo courts have not produced one legally acceptable confession or a real culprit for 911 attack on us! It seems the danger posed by Al Qaeda is reminiscent of George W. Bush and his fabricated “war on terror”. Obama and the country clearly face grave problems overseas; but they can't be reduced to a "far-reaching network." So what on hell he is talking about!
The economic crisis? "Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age." Greed? Yes, but greed condoned and encouraged by government. Hard choices? What does these refer to? Few people getting sub-prime loan!? Auto companies making the wrong cars? Obama doesn't say anything of substance!
He could have declared the reality that our economy is wrong because of greedy Bankers who invested and lost their investment. Of Israeli and Wall street commodity brokers who in collusion with media , artificially increased the price of oil 5 times its worth pocketed the difference and transferred their money into foreign places. If the whole world has lost these trillions of dollars one would ask were did all these money that they scammed go, into the black hole , as Obama wants us to believe or in the pocket of the Wall street bankers and brokers that Obama wants to “Bail-out”!
Obama’s Disappointing Inauguration Speech
Farhat maquami
OBAMA should have started the speech by declaring that Bush's "War on Terror" is over and we are starting a new Era of "Mission for Peace,Hope and Prosperity". we can start a mission for Peace by people who have internalized Terror by six years of propaganda. Like Plato's "allegory of the Cave" they have to be liberated from the scary shadows to believe in change. Well, my fellow American the day of scare tactics is over, set your mind free and lets liberate the world by Peace not War; by empathy not by terror! Bush administration has used every instrument of terror and torture to find those who terrorized us and since they have not found any evidence, any legally acceptable confession I would end the War on Terror and declare the Closure of Guantanamo , Gandoz and Abo Ghareib Prisons and emancipation of all 25000 who are held without charge in US custody. He did not!
Obama’s inauguration expense of more than $170 million dollars, in the middle of recession, produced less than Johnson Inaugural of 1.2 million crowd, with less expense!. Yet the mountain of fan fair, and money, Hollywood celebrities and publicity produced a disappointing mouse! Rick Warren gave more hope to the religious right and Neo-Cons than Obama’s disappointing and colorless speech.
Obama has the makings of a great tele-prompter reader-orator, but his inaugural speech was not a great speech, unlike his stump speeches. It was well-delivered, but it consisted of no new themes, rhetoric, refurbished conservative ideas of self-help, and no solid economic plans to address directly our economic, social and Global crisis. No economic plans for the country, and to end to Bush’s War on Terror. More troops to fight Bush’s Mythical Enemy in Afghanistan.
Obama’s Mountain of hope produced a disappointing and fearful mouse! Wall Street dropped more than 300 points because they saw no hope for real Change! Even after Obama got his wall Street 350 750 billions of “giveaway” Bail-out money, more in TARP money, and promised them 1. 3 trillion dollars of extra expenditure for road, bridges, infrastructures and Green Jobs to nowhere.
As he was speaking instead of hope they saw despair and dumped their stocks because any one with economic 101 knows that borrowing from China to buy Chinese and Mexican industrial products and filling Wal-Mart with cheap goods at the expense of American jobs would lead to 13 trillion Dollars National Debt by the end of 2009, that in combination of budget deficit, Balance of Trade deficit would bring this great nation to its knees.
The shallowness of his diagnosis is obvious, that is why he had lost his Mojo. His diagnosis dooms his supposed treatment of our economic problems. He is trying to shift the burden to the powerless people not the leaders who led them to the economic suicide. It was our leaders not the led who took us to this economic suicide mission, called depression. Why did he cover-up facts and blend them with fantasy? It is up to us to unmask him and force him to follow the “Change we can Believe in" and move him toward a more progressive direction.
By the way, as much as I appreciate Amy Goodman's show, I am getting concerned that she is sticking mainly to foreign policy at the expense of totally ignoring the domestic front. I'm already disgusted at Obama for allowing Bush's last minute pro-drill-drill-drill rules to go forward and while I applaud Obama's actions on paving the way to closing GITMO, I am getting more concerned that all this Israel vs Palestinians in Gaza shit is just counter-paving the way towards postponing the closing of GITMO by a few months, then a year, and then another year say when it's election time and Democrats do the usual things of cowering in fear of being somehow labelled as "weak on defense", etc ... Sure, Obama implied that America must grow up but he and his crew already know that as usual, all it takes is Gaza, Spears, or some soapy shit to keep us distracted and screwed. And I wished the liberal blogosphere would pay more attention to progressive/liberal concerns on local levels from various places in the USA so that the Internet can actually prove to be really helpful because so far despite the Internet of blogging, youtube, and all that shit, the elites still keeping winning and getting stronger. I'm sorry if I "distracted" you all so I now return you to your regular whatever.
We have to be his cheering section, his critics, his employer, among many other things. The thing is to stay on his side. Encourage him when he is right, let him know gently when he is wrong, but never see him as the enemy Bush became.
The people and Bush hated each other. Neither would listen to the other. Such essentials as trust, respect, solidarity were non existent. We reached the point that he could never have become an effective leader.
How funny! Why do we need to "push" into doing what he's already doing, such as ending the war in Iraq or closing Guantanamo.
You see, we don't want him adding stipulations, restrictions, delays, and all that garbage. I know Iraq will take some time but if he goes along with plans to delay shutting down GITMO, then you know something's going wrong.
There might be delays for reasons that are hard for us to comprehend, but that make perfect sense when you're in Obama's position and privy to classified information.
It's clear that his intent is to close Guantanamo. I think intent matters.
Don't worry, we'll get there eventually.
"There might be delays for reasons that are hard for us to comprehend"
Such as?
"but that make perfect sense when you're in Obama's position and privy to classified information. "
No it doesn't. Even a lot of reasonable conservatives are for closing GITMO and with all that has gone on there , there is no reason whatsoever to delay it. None, nada, zilch.
"Don't worry, we'll get there eventually."
Translation, they'll keep procrastinating and inventing excuses so that they can score political points. I guess that's why it's true that even excuses are "work" too you know. Are you "happy" to see your tax dollars go towards GITMO?
Agreed. The "Privy to classified information" dismissal been worn threadbare. If something cannot be explained to intelligent people, it is probably falsified.
Do not ever relinquish your common sense. You have a right-to-know what is being done with your taxes and in your name. Some may think there are people in charge with better wisdom than you, but that is not usually the case.
That is part of "putting away childish things". Children are innocent and have to trust adults. Adults have to take responsibility for studying, understanding and acting effectively.
Joe
We can make a significant beginning by exposing AIPAC from within and exposing Presidential and Congressional complicity to AIPAC. We can refuse to take the bait, "anti-Semite". We can publicize the billions given Israel, detailing where our money is spent, demanding an end to this war budget. We can rightly label Israel's perpetual war on Palestinians, ethnic cleansing. We can rightly note the participation of American and Israeli Jews opposed to Zionism. Israel's latest war on Gaza is our moment to gain mainstream credibility. I doubt that Obama wishes us to make him do anything substantially different than past administrations. Goodman is naive. We must prepare to expose this administration, to shame it. Don't let the tail wag the dog! Carry on. Courage.
American Friends Service Committee is setting up a campaign to contact representatives to apply pressureon the 20th day of each month for those who might be interested in joining the tens of thousands joining on this:
\http://www.countdowntowithdrawal.org/
We must all put our collective sholders to the wheel and push to help Obama
forge what he called "a new era of American membership" in the world.
And what about Congress? Take on both Congress and Obama if you want any hint of real peace policies to make it.
A little off topic, but I just needed to post this somewhere...
I was driving around during lunch and turned on NPR Talk of the Nation (my intential is not to start a debate about the merits of NPR).
The show today was about American foreign policy, and who was on but Douglas frickin' Feith presenting his opinions about our foreign policy and our standing in the world, the current decisions facing us, and our past decisions. In addition to him was another member of the Bush government and a member of the Clinton regime.
The focus of the show was to have people from around the world call in with their questions.
The things that were stated in support of American foreign policy floored me and had me screaming at my radio, and there wasn't one progressive, or even mildly liberal, voice to counteract his claims specifically and the claims of the entire panel.
Most infuriating is that of course Israel/Palestine came up, and Feith's answers were straight from the Israeli government talking points. It basically was a propoganda piece for the Israeli government, and a real coup for the PNAC and neocons to get unopposed time on a program which many consider liberal (true or not). If you haven't heard, the latest propoganda is that not only is Hamas terrorizing Israel, but their own Palestinian constituents (yet somehow they were democratically elected in elections deemed fair???)
My point is whether you listen to NPR or not, we need to email this show and ask why a proponent of a failed foreign policy which has bankrupted our nation and led to our lowest worldwide approval ratings STILL HAS A VOICE to represent our country's policies!! Or however you want to phrase it - listen to the archive if you need some help working up some talking points.
NPR, for better or worse, is one of the last formats in the mainstream media struggle. We may have already lost the struggle to have it somewhat represent progressive views, but we still should not remain silent.
Sorry for the digression from the topic...
I gave up on NPR when they blatantly cheerleaded for Bush's war on Iraq repeating the Bush admins lies verbatim without question. The only thing I listen to carried by NPR is Democracy Now! and I listen to that as a podcast.
turn off npr and turn on
National Propaganda Radio -------- is disgusting.
Sioux Rose
RASTAMAN: I don't have TV (have not for 2 years) but want to comment in two ways. First, what you describe is how I frequently felt listening to Washington Journal on C-Span, although every once in a while a progressive voice of sanity did get through (when they took viewers' calls).
My second reaction (or point) is that as you know, many insiders/generals were interviewed on a variety of television shows prior to the Iraqi debacle and all through it. The pattern is to have soft propaganda as a constant so the public does not recognize it as such. Most of these voices whore for the military-industrial complex and unless and until Obama finds ways to cut down that budget, with all the cash flying into a variety of domestic and foreign spying and surveillance programs, the voice of dissent AS peace or diplomacy or sanity will be made conspicuous BY its absence. Noam Chomsky refers to it as manufactured consent, and another luminary (I can't remember who) termed it the politics of excluded alternatives. Both summations fit.
It seems to me that Goodman is right, and I think I see FDR's point. While I revere them, the checks, the balances, and the prez's vote = 2/3 congress etc (kinglike)...none of it as far as I can see is flawless. Barack Obama risked everything, and worked quite hard for the opportunity to keep risking everything. And now he's got that opportunity. He might be a bit wooden on single-payer and Afghanistan, but whose vote would have ended up vetoing 111th bills if he'd come on with what makes total sense? The establishment and Republicans in general had been so propagandized with "free market" mythology it's like they were living in a movie.
We out here will have to define the "change." Bush was the wizard behind the curtain or Cheney or Rove? I don't think so. It was the sheeple that enabled everything. Thousands and thousands of'em. Some in those agencies and depts Englehardt mentioned below. Look at these governors. They should be up in the bully pulpit themselves clamouring loudly for Strickland and Krugman's argument that states need help too. Are they? No way. They just go blithely along cutting this and cutting that. Oh, we just have to do what we have to do. So right there perhaps is where the lobbying and pressure on our part should be brought to bear. Whatever goes wrong, all those departments Englehardt mentioned are full of people that could have been blow'in whistles. Think of the numbers of'em! It's truly like Galbraith says...the corporations now see themselves only as surviving via gov contracts or gov bailouts, but the other part is that those IN GOV have got their heels dug in like it's the Soviet Union.
I don't know why Obama nominated Kaine to be chairman of DNC, but I assume in this messed up world...WITHOUT OUR SUPPORT default options arise along lesser-of-evil guidelines. Anyway, McCain is not up there. Inspite of the total corruption and conniving and vote-purging capacity, he's not up there. It's all a game: if Obama introduced bills that mandated what we here want the conservative forces would stoke up the talkshow-host-machine full bore to transmit new rumors and new phony dirt. He had to play the game to get the conservative votes. That's life. His wooden positions scare the hell out of me, but the game sez we help him along. For sure it says that. IMO he'd never have overcome the Diebold vote-purge system if THE PEOPLE hadn't given him an overwhelming margin of victory.
I disagree emphatically with the idea that we must "make" President Obama do anything. Forcing one's will upon another to make change at this point in time will never birth anything but more unwilling forces into the world.
Obama by self proclaimed nature does not need to be "made" to do anything, he needs to be sincerely and unremittently told what our will is. We must remind him of his own commitment to peacefully moving forward with those willing to reach out an open hand, be it us, or any member of the family of peace across this human village.
What happens when snowflakes stick together?...............friends come together and have snow ball fights. :)
Leea
Leea: "Forcing one's will upon another to make change at this point in time will never birth anything but more unwilling forces into the world." Having Obama do the will of the people is exactly WHY he was elected. It is our collective voices that may make him do what the people deem needs to be done. Obama is a politician. They understand, first and foremost, what power is. Theirs. And the people's. You don't make nice nice with people of such power. You show them what the power of the people is. Obama gave up singing Kumbaya when he threw the Reverend Wright under the bus. Lets not delude ourselves that he wouldn't throw the people under the bus if he had to. Never forget that he is the ruling class' sock puppet and their hands are you know where.
Well I hope you are wrong, but it is just as likely that I am.
What happens when snowflakes stick together?...............friends come together and have snow ball fights. :)
Leea
Letting President Obama know our will is the best way of making him Do it.
That is what presidents mean when they say "Make me do it".
We are the people and we have the power.
Right.
You had so much power that Bush/Cheney brought the world to the edge of the abyss.
You only have the power to rubber stamp what's handed you by the multinationals running the show.
alfredog,
Your points are completely valid as to what happened for the past eight years. But must they continue to be applied still even today?
How long do you imagine we must continue to suffer fof our mistakes before we can indeed change?
What happens when snowflakes stick together?...............friends come together and have snow ball fights. :)
Leea
Considering the great number of mistakes and the irresponsible attitude of the "citizens"--I expect you'll be suffering for as long as the human species remains on the planet.
If evolving into a differentspecies becomes our only way forward, perhaps our task is a tad greater than we imagine.
What happens when snowflakes stick together?...............friends come together and have snow ball fights. :)
Leea
It was my understanding that spiritual people questioned "evolution"? When we evolve into a different species we will no longer be going forward. The new species will be. Of course, that evolution may take place after the cataclysm.
Considering that the Mayan prophecies put that cataclysm at the end of 2012, I daresay we will not be evolving before then.
Yes perhaps "make" is a word that has many variations of use, one of which you describe. I feel that other words would suffice better as many could confuse "make" with forcing or even threatening. I think petition or request or___________ you fill in the space, are better suited to matching the intentions of peace, love, liberty and justice at this time.
What happens when snowflakes stick together?...............friends come together and have snow ball fights. :)
Leea
The electorate already told Obama what it wanted during the primaries. It was he, after all, who chose to ignore the electorate after he secured the Democratic nomination. After Hillary Clinton was defeated, Obama veered sharply to the right, forsaking the Democratic base and kowtowing to the likes of AIPAC, the big banks and Big Oil and Big Pharma.
We the People can't make Obama do anything. He is already made his choice to be the president for the corporations that financed his campaign.
Whose president is he?
If We-The-People have the right to elect him we have the duty to keep him to task.
These are the times to be tigers and not goats.
HUMBABA-
Right on! By the way, where did "These are times to be tigers not goats" come from?
I am so tired of these whiners! If they could get their noses out of their collective asses they could see that it wouldn't take a miracle to change our government.
Question-
How did European Monarchies and Dictatorships become relatively peaceful Social Democratic societies?
Answer-
Because they weren't full of lazy whiners.
We have to fight for peace and justice like tigers.
Over 60 organizations have pressed for greater openness in government. National Security Archives has posted this start to rolling back mechanisms the former administration employed in privileging imbalances. It is only a start - but a good one.
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/
Despite my respect for Amy Goodman, I doubt it's possible to "make Obama do it."
For one thing, he is far more a creature of the banks than FDR was. For another thing, FDR faced a potentially revolutionary situation, or at least massive unrest -- while Obama does not. (At least, not yet.) For a third thing, while FDR had numerous cabinet members & advisors who were exceedingly liberal & open-minded (Harry Hopkins, Frances Perkins, Eleanor, etc), Obama has already surrounded himself with aggressive warmongers, pro-Israel zealots, & other creatures of the banks.
It would be nice if we could "make Obama do it," but I don't think it's in the cards. Since even the usually very astute Amy Goodman is holding out hopes for this, we can probably conclude that it may take some time before people see that in fact, we can't make Obama do it -- ie, that he intends to defend ruling class interests in all those places where they conflict with the public interest.
Once this sinks in (and it's going to sink in, as the Obama administration's commitment to war & to slavishly serving the needs of the banks becomes more obvious, while the economy continues to fail), we are going to have a "very interesting" situation on our hands.
That's what I am talking about David. I only hope people get out in the streets if the depression and ecological collapse gets truly ugly.
...a situation of great interest indeed.
What happens when snowflakes stick together?...............friends come together and have snow ball fights. :)
Leea
The USA congress has shown by its complicity and silence on israeli atrocities and war crimes, that this congress lacks a moral compass. Obama may have a moral compass but we must be his helmsperson. Food for thought: Out of all the insane violence in the world today only two states are building a wall on their border (or tentative border) and only two nations are torturing civilians to death with white phosphorous.----------- Thanks ---------- Peace -----------------
" That this congress lacks a moral compass". This moral, miasma cannot be healed by BHO alone, if the American people do not demand accountability for the complicity of congress in Israel atrocities and war crimes.When Senator Stevens of Alaska left the Senate he was given a several minute standing ovation, despite being convicted of 7 felonies and then some even wanted to pardon him! Enough said!