Tag Archives: Barack Obama presidential campaign 2008

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Student loan reform can’t wait


2012

James Kvaal is the Policy Director for Obama for America.

Friend —

President Obama just took two serious steps to make life a lot easier
for folks with student loans — and there’s a good chance you or someone
you know will benefit from these changes very soon.

Here’s how:

— Effective this January, if you’re someone who has different kinds
of loans — guaranteed and direct — you’ll be able to roll them both
into one direct loan and bring down your interest rate. You’ll only have
to write one check a month, and you’ll see a discount. This switch adds
no cost to taxpayers across the board.

— You might remember that, as part of last year’s student loan
reform, borrowers’ loan payments could be no higher than 10 percent of
their disposable income. This is a big deal — but it wasn’t going to
help anyone enrolling before 2014. Today, the President announced that
he’s speeding up this program so it will affect students next year —
helping over 1 million students. This will have huge consequences for
people struggling to make their student loan payments.

Sometimes, it can be hard to see how policy changes will actually affect your day-to-day life.

Not the case with this one. These changes will make a real difference in helping millions of Americans get by month to month.

We put together a video explaining how these changes will help Americans. Watch
it to learn a little more about what today’s steps would do, and then
make sure everyone you know who should hear about it does.

Learn how student loan reforms help you.

President Obama isn’t waiting on Congress to take action. He’s doing
everything in his power, right now, to help bolster our economy and get
folks back on their feet.

On Monday, he laid out new rules on federal mortgages to help make sure more families don’t lose their homes to foreclosure.

On Tuesday, the administration announced two new initiatives to help veterans find work.

Today, it means making changes that make student loans a lot easier to manage.

These are actions that can’t wait on the next vote or the next election.
So long as people are struggling, this President and this
administration will do everything in their power to help them when and
where they can. It’s just that simple.

Now, let’s make sure that the millions of people who stand to benefit from today’s steps know about it.

Watch the video to learn more about today’s student loan changes — and then help get the word out:

http://my.barackobama.com/Student-Loan-Reforms

Thanks,

James

James Kvaal

Policy Director

Obama for America

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

1 Million … Barack Obama


Our campaign is about to hit 1 million grassroots donors.

I wanted to write to you because this is something that only happens once.

No matter what our opponents do — and however many people end up becoming a part of this campaign — this first million will always be the group that put this movement in the best position possible for the fights ahead.

Thank you. And know that while you’re one of the first million to step up, you represent millions more across the country who are counting on us.

But we can’t do this alone. We’ve always relied on each other, not Washington lobbyists or corporate interests, to build this campaign. That’s why I’m asking you to inspire someone to make their first donation today by promising to match it.

WWW.BARACKOBAMA.Com

Make a donation to match a first-time donor, and help put us over 1 million today:

Thanks,

Barack

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

They got it wrong …Rufus Gifford, BarackObama.com


Just six days before the last fundraising deadline, one major newspaper ran a story under the headline “Small donors are slow to return to the Obama fold.”

You and a whole lot of other supporters turned that headline upside down. Today we filed a report with the FEC that shows this movement isn’t just as strong as ever — it’s growing.

Sometimes the media gets so caught up in its own echo chamber that the storyline separates from the facts.

The great thing about building a grassroots organization based outside of Washington is that the press won’t decide what happens here — you will.

In fact, right now, just shy of 1 million people like you have taken ownership of this campaign by pitching in whatever they can afford.

You’re already going to be a part of that million — but there’s still something you can do to help get the campaign there today.

Promise to match a first-time grassroots supporter by making a donation today — and the new supporter we’ll match you with will join you as part of that first million. You can even write them a note.

No matter what happens in the inside-the-beltway media circus, or what the pundits are predicting, we’ve got to stay focused on building this campaign from the ground up, one grassroots donation at a time.

When each of us takes responsibility as a supporter, the combined impact sends a stronger message than any single newspaper story.

You can do that right now.

Promise to match a first-time supporter’s donation today and help the campaign get to 1 million:

Thanks,

Rufus

Rufus Gifford
National Finance Director
Obama for America

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

982,967 …Jim Messina, BarackObama.com


Remember that deadline we kept emailing you about a couple weeks ago?

Here’s what you should know about what we’ll report to the FEC tomorrow:

— In the third fundraising quarter of this year, 606,027 people donated to this campaign — even more than gave in the record-breaking previous quarter.
— Those people gave more than 766,000 total donations — 98 percent of them $250 or less, at an average amount of $56. That’s more than twice as many donations than we had at this point in the historic 2008 campaign.
— We are focused on building infrastructure that will help us win in 2012. And each quarter we set a combined goal for the campaign and our allies at the Democratic National Committee. We far exceeded our goal of $55 million this quarter between the two organizations. Great work.
— Together, Obama for America and the DNC raised more than $70 million. And it all happened during a summer when the President was focused on doing the job he was elected to do — a summer when we had to cancel a series of fundraising events and ask everyone to dig a little deeper.

If I could sum up this last quarter in a few words: You came through. Thank you.

Here’s even bigger news: Right now, 982,967 people have donated to this campaign. We’re within striking distance of 1 million donors.

You’re one of those first million already, so it’s up to you to inspire someone else to give for the first time. Make a promise to match someone’s first donation to the campaign now — you pick the amount, and we’ll match you with a grassroots supporter who hasn’t given to the campaign yet. You can even leave them a note (and you might get one back).

——————————————————————————-

Part of the reason we send you all these emails is that we don’t accept any money from special-interest groups or Washington lobbyists.

So getting to a million grassroots donors isn’t just a huge accomplishment this early in the campaign. It’s our answer to our opponents, the press, and anyone who wants to know whether the President’s supporters have his back.

The reality is that on top of the hundreds of thousands of supporters from 2008 who decided to make another donation, 257,635 people made their first donation ever to the Obama organization — continuing the record pace you all set in the previous quarter.

That support translates directly to what we can do on the ground. In the past three months we’ve grown our organizing staff by 50 percent, and opened up three new field offices every week. Thousands of volunteers and organizers made 3 million phone calls and in-person visits to voters.

That’s all because you decided to be part of this.

And the continued pace of that growth is up to you — we will open more offices, train more organizers, and knock on more doors at the pace you make possible.

When Republicans think it helps their political fortunes to block the progress that the President is advocating for, we have to speak up and mobilize.

You know why it’s important to engage right now. We’re up against a Republican Party and special interest-funded groups that will spend hundreds of millions of dollars spreading any message that they believe will defeat the President and roll back our efforts to build a fairer economy that rewards hard work and responsibility, not large corporations.

But we’ve also got to build for the long term. That’s what all the fundraising and deadlines are about: building the organization now that will put us in a position to win in 2012.

Thanks for all you did to get us here. I’m excited for what’s ahead, and I hope you’ll take part in the push to 1 million grassroots donors today.

Make a pledge and double your impact by inspiring someone to donate for the first time today:

Thanks,

Messina

Jim Messina
Campaign Manager
Obama for America

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Campaign 2012


The critical September 30th fundraising deadline is the primary focus of
the campaign for the next week and a half, but two things happened this
week that you ought to be proud of:

— President Obama laid out the Buffett Rule: a proposal to help bring
down our deficit by asking millionaires and billionaires to pay their
fair share in taxes. It’s a position that more than 70 percent of
Americans agree with, but something that too many millionaire
politicians don’t have the guts to propose.

— “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” officially became history. It’s done. That’s
something that we’ll tell our kids about — and this President helped
finally do it.

What happens in the next week and a half is up to you.

The deadline we face in nine days is serious. It’s the official FEC
filing deadline, and it’s not arbitrary — it’s built into our
campaign’s budget plan. It will determine what kinds of resources we can
commit to which states as we expand our ground game.

WWW.BarackObama.ORG

Right now, you have a chance to affect what that picture looks like. Will you pitch in $5 or more to help get where we need to go by the deadline?

https://donate.barackobama.com/September-Deadline

Our President is out there doing great things. And right now, it’s on us
to get his back by showing the strength of the organization behind him.

Thanks,

Jen

Jen O’Malley Dillon

Deputy Campaign Manager

Obama for America

P.S. — As an added bonus, every donation you make before September 30th
will automatically enter you to win dinner with President Obama. Take ownership of this campaign today, and you could find yourself across the table from the President.