Jul 08
25

National Forum on Disability Issues

8 Comments

Got a newsletter from the NAD. A part of it said:

The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) is pleased to be a Hosting Sponsor of the “National Forum on Disability Issues.” This forum will feature the presumptive Republican candidate Senator John McCain (R-AZ) (by satellite) and Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), representing the presumptive Democratic candidate, Senator Barack Obama (D-IL). The event will be held in Columbus, Ohio on Saturday, July 26, 2008 at Veteran’s Memorial.

If you’d like to read the section in it’s entirety, you can find it here: Link

My first thought was: hey, cool – McCain and Obama will both duke it out about disability issues, and I get to see it, and not only that, make a more educated vote, considering how I’m deaf myself.

My second thought was: hey, wait a minute – Senator Tom Harkin, representing Obama? This is – excuse my language – bullshit. Quite simply bullshit. So I googled it, and look what I found at the National Forum on Disability Issues website:

BREAKING NEWS:
7/19 – Senator Tom Harkin confirms as live surrogate for Senator Barack Obama
7/18 – Actor and activist Robert David Hall confirms as speaker
7/14 – Senator John McCain confirms participation in forum via satellite link from Arizona

Okay, so now Senator McCain would rather not do it in person, but via satellite link. Not as good as it would have been if it was in person, but at least he’s participating himself instead via proxy, like Obama. If you’ve been following my blog, you’ll know I’m somewhat skewed in favor of Obama – so you’ll understand if I express my profound disappointment in Obama’s treatment of this forum.

Both politicians have made it clear to me by how they treated this forum their position on disability issues: a distant priority. So I won’t be surprised if the next administration doesn’t give a damn about disabilities. No real leadership there for disabilities.

Posted in Deafness Politics by Don. 8 Comments

8 Responses to "National Forum on Disability Issues"

  • Rob says:
    July 25, 2008 at 7:13 pm
    Reply

    Sen. John McCain was in Columbus yesterday to attend a LiveStrong event set up by the Lance Armstrong Foundation (McCain is a cancer survivor). I’m not making any excuse for him but he is involved in many engagements all over the country and he had a choice of going to the LiveStrong event or the National Forum on Disability debate, both fell within two days of the same week. He did met the Dalai Lama in Aspen, Co. today before heading back to his Arizona home this weekend, since there are speculations that McCain is ready to introduce his new VP from his home by Sunday or early next week (which is why he chooses to be videotaped live from home for the Disability debate). It’s better than not showing his face at all.

    After the LiveStrong event, McCain went over to a very popular German restaurant in downtown Columbus for late lunch (I’ve been there before, very good German food), apparently as a play to mock Obama’s speech in Germany. :)

  • Don says:
    July 25, 2008 at 8:18 pm
    Reply

    I’m a firm supporter of Obama, but the fact he chose to not attend and instead sent someone else in his place cost him some serious points with me. McCain at the very least participated directly via satellite link — not as good as in person, but still he DID participate. Obama didn’t.

    That was quite disappointing for me.

    P.S. What’s the name of the German restaurant? If I’m ever in Columbus, I’ll try it out. :-)

  • Deaf Republician says:
    July 26, 2008 at 3:23 am
    Reply

    Don,

    I want to contact you privately but I don’t see your email address around.

  • Rob says:
    July 26, 2008 at 4:53 am
    Reply

    Don, it is Schmidt’s Sausage Haus und Restaurant in Columbus’ German Village neighborhood (it can be hard to find it while driving on a cobblestone road). If you ever come around to visit, let’s meet and eat there.

    Also, sending Sen. Tom Harkin is a good choice since he has been an advocate for the disabled for a long time (I think he has a deaf brother but I’m not sure) and fought for the passage of ADA.

  • Don says:
    July 26, 2008 at 10:18 am
    Reply

    @DeafRepublican, that’s because I don’t leave my email address lying around; it’s so I can avoid getting spam email.

    My email is doncullen.spam@gmail.com.

    Just make sure you remove the .spam part. :-)

    @Rob- sounds great! I’ll keep that in mind, it’s always a pleasure meeting other deaf people! Perhaps Tom Harkin is a good choice, but I’d have preferred Obama himself had participated rather than delegated it to somebody else. That pretty much tells me his intentions in regards to disabilities; if president, he’d just delegate the disability issue to somebody else and forget about the issue altogether… :-\

  • Rob says:
    July 26, 2008 at 7:45 pm
    Reply

    Don,

    Check out my blog for my attendance at the National Forum on Disability Issue today.

    Sen. Harkin is the Disability adviser for Sen. Obama and his campaign, the first of its kind.

  • MM says:
    July 27, 2008 at 12:49 pm
    Reply

    They were commenting on Obama on UK news, and they said he was acting like he won the presidency already, and was making a number of statements about troop withdrawls, when they will start etc, an early morning news discussion here said Americans won’t vote in a black candidate for president, democracy doesn’t stretch that far yet..

    Apparently your cost of living is the issue and he ignred that….. lol had to laugh when he said he was going to make America ‘green’ and non-oil dependant, does he walk on the water too ! Brits are reluctant to play him up as yet, because we don’t want to be seen favouring either candidate, so they gave him a sightseeing tour instead, unfortunately the queen was on holiday so……he didn’t get the crowds he hoped for here, well, it was a sunny weekend and Brits DO have better things to do. The type of candidates Americans support are not the same as here, we don’t like grandstanding and long-winded speeches that don’t actually SAY anything, when we saw Obama and Clinton on the same stage, we could not believe the amount of false and sugar coated platitudes they threw at each other, do Americans really swallow that ? No wonder you got Bush lol..

  • Don says:
    July 27, 2008 at 12:56 pm
    Reply

    @Rob- read your blog about your attendance. But I’m still disappointed Obama didn’t deign to participate…

    @MM- Unfortunately, that’s how we are. As for Obama acting as if he was already president; I’d think that’s called ‘confidence’. ;)

    Actually, MM, I was just reading an article about that very same thing you mentioned, maybe you’ll think it’s an interesting read too:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/opinion/27rich.html?_r=3&ref=opinion&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

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