I have a hard time believing that the endorsement will hurt Obama. If Frank Sinatra, with his rumored mob connections, didn't hurt John F. Kennedy, I can't see what harm Oprah could do. Of course, the Kennedy's did eventually distance themselves from Sinatra to the benefit of the Republicans who used the star's support to help get Ronald Reagan elected.
Maybe some fans will get perturbed that she is delving into politics, but how many would actually change their vote on that basis? On the other hand, I think at least some percentage of her supporters would consider her endorsement as important. Non-Oprah fans will probably just ignore the whole thing.
Jessica Biel and other celebrities to rock for Barack
Jessica Biel, Ryan Reynolds, Scarlett Johansson, Kate Walsh and Taye Diggs will be talking up Barack Obama at a big Hollywood concert set for Dec. 11.
The combination rally-fundraiser is called "'Los Angeles Generation Obama Concert" and will be held at the Gibson Amphitheater. Tickets are available at barackobama.com.
Obama calls youth to service
Today, Barack issued a call on young people to serve their reminiscent of John F. Kennedy's plea decades ago. Here are some details of the plan:
- Expand AmeriCorps from its current 75,000 slots to 250,000 slots, enabling the program to establish five new Corps that address some of America's most pressing challenges: Classroom Corps, Health Corps, Clean Energy Corps, Veterans Corps, and Homeland Security Corps.
- Engage retiring Americans in service on a large scale by expanding and improving Senior Corps, VISTA and other programs that connect individuals over the age of 55 to volunteer opportunities.
- Double the size of the Peace Corps from 7,800 volunteers to 16,000 by its 50th anniversary in 2011 and work to partner volunteers with people from other nations.
- Establish an America's Voice Initiative to recruit and train Americans that are fluent speakers of local languages to bolster our public diplomacy efforts abroad
- Create a national online network, modeled on Craigslist, to connect volunteers to service and donation opportunities
- Establish a goal of having middle and high-schoolers contribute at least 50 hours a week to community service, and reach that goal through national guidelines for service-learning and additional resources for schools to develop successful programs.
- Connect disadvantaged youth to service opportunities and a pathway to success through the creation of Green Job Corps and the expansion of YouthBuild from 8,000 slots today to 50,000 slots over the next eight years.
- Create a new American Opportunity Tax Credit to ensure that the first $4,000 of a college education is completely free for Americans willing to complete 100 hours of public service a year.
- Promote College Serve-Study by immediately increasing the percentage of Federal Work-Study Program funding that goes to community service jobs from 7 percent to 25 percent, and helping colleges and universities reach a goal of 50 percent of serve-study over time.
- Expand the capacity of the nonprofit sector by establishing a Social Investment Fund Network to provide R&D capital to encourage innovation, find out what works, and expand successful programs to scale across the country.
- Create a Social Entrepreneurship Agency to enable nonprofits to build capacity through improved collaborations with government.
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