Yesterday we made history in this country. The first african american nominee of a major party. Sorry I haven't posted much on it yet, but I'm waiting on final stats about the youth vote in this process before I put out my final thoughts. In the meantime, Joe has an excellent message for Hillary Clinton and her supporters, and if you missed it last night, you owe it to yourself to watch Obama's speech.

I am enthralled with Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE). 
 
He has made news lately with suspicions of joining Barack Obama as a possible Vice President or cabinet member or at the very least giving Obama an endorsement for President. 
 
Chuck Hagel had me watching him long before the media picked up on his independent spirit of leadership.  Time magazine has given him the label of “hero to liberals” even though he has a strong Republican voting record in the Senate.
 
So, when I found out Chuck Hagel was in Lincoln to sign his new book “America Our Next Chapter: Tough Questions, Straight Answers” I had to go check him out.  He greeted each one of the over 500 people there with such true joy; he is made to be in politics.  He loves politics.

I first read an interview with Senator Hagel in a magazine called Nebraska Life.  After several pages of learning about him growing up in the Sandhills of Nebraska, he said something that grabbed me, something that made me realize he is both a man of conviction but also a dreamer.  He said:
 
“You run for office because you want to influence policy, to influence the direction of the country; you attempt to attain to some power to exert that influence, to change the course of the world. This business should be about one thing, making a better world for all people.”
 
I asked Senator Hagel about this quote at his book signing, here is what he had to say:

 
With all the speculation around Senator Hagel joining the Obama team as a possible choice for Vice President or a cabinet member, I was curious to know how he viewed his campaign so far—in particular around the youth vote since in his book he dedicates a chapter to talking about his own kids who are in high school being more engaged in their community, a show of his knowledge that the Millennials are a different generation.  He gives props to Obama while talking about how critical it is for young people to be engaged at high levels in politics:
 

 
Lastly, in Senator Hagel’s book he talks about the health care crisis facing America.  Since young people are the number one age group among the uninsured, I was curious to know about one particular part of health care—mental health parity.  I wanted to know Senator Hagel’s perspective on why mental health parity has yet to pass both the Senate and the House, here is his explanation:
 

 
Nebraska was lucky to have Chuck Hagel as our Senator for the past 11 years.  While he is retiring this year, and there is a competitive race for his seat, he will be greatly missed.  Although, I don’t think we will have to wait that long to see Senator Hagel take on a new post in politics.  He simply loves it too much and it is clear this is a true calling for him.

PS: Thank you to Senator Chuck Hagel’s staff, especially his Chief of Staff Mike Buttry, who made sure the Senator answered all of my questions even though they had plenty more events to attend that night.

Couple of things going on over on the left coast.

Sometimes talking about health care can be boring. Sometimes it can be sad and compelling. But when there is a cartoon??

As part of the overwhelming work to reform health care Sick of BlueCross is taking on an ambitious task of holding leaders in Sacramento accountable for campaign promises. This compared to a campaign on behalf of Blue Cross (and their roster of insurance agent peeps) that are forking over bank to scare people away from reform.

This matters to us particularly because Blue Cross has this special plan they call the Tonik Plan that specifically targets young people.

Got to report on what the old crew is up to. MFA and SEIU Local in Seattle have teamed up on a video project to ask young folks and musicians about their health care status and opinions on the system:

David Bazan (of Pedro the Lion)

There's a good idea in here somewhere, but I don't see an endgame. What are the videos being collected for? Most young people know we have shitty to no health care. Telling their stories (or allowing them to tell their own stories) is cool, but what next? This is an SEIU partnership . . . so what is SEIU and how might they help me? (That's a rhetorical question - I know what SEIU is, but a lot of younger folks probably don't). Is there a way to build this into part of a statewide movement to reform Washington's health care system like Massachussets and other states have done?

Cool shit in and of itself doesn't help us. Cool shit that gets other shit done is what we need to be aiming for.

So what comes next? What are we looking to get done, and how does this get us there?

I just received an e-mail blast from John Edwards that is a good example of a candidate taking a strong stance on an issue of great importance to many Americans, and especially young Americans: Health Care. My favorite part is that he wasn't afraid to use the term that many beltway folks seem deathly afraid of: Universal Health Care. From the e-mail:

As you well know, the American health care system is broken for far too many of our families. Today, 47 million people are uninsured, while uncertainty grows and costs spiral for nearly everyone else. To fix this crisis, we don't need an incremental shift, we need a fundamental change.

So today, I'm proud to announce my plan to guarantee top quality health care to every man, woman and child in this great country.

Now, I do think that the plan sounds a little wishy washy, but hell, this is a complicated issue. But as someone who has been dealing with the fear and general unease of living without health care, I can say that this will be the #2 issue that I vote upon in the upcoming election (the environment, that system upon which all other systems depend, will always be numero uno), and the fact that Edwards has come out in front of this issue greatly increases the chances that I'll vote for him (unless Gore jumps in or someone comes out with a less wishy-washy plan), and I assume that many other active politicos might feel the same way.

The full e-mail, including the usual pitch for volunteers, is after the jump...