As I noted back in December, I had the pleasure of attending a couple of Ford campaign events on December 1st, 2005. One of which included a stop in Lewisburg at Jimmy's Deli.As I was browsing Congressman Ford's campaign site a few days back, I noticed they had a nice write up about his visit there as well as his vision for our state and nation.
"Congressman Harold Ford, Jr. met with a packed house of people who gathered at Jimmy's Deli on Thursday to meet with the man who is vying for a seat on the U.S. Senate.
Congressman Ford is serving his fifth term in the U.S. House of Representatives representing the Ninth District of Tennessee that includes the Memphis region of the state. He officially announced in May that he would be seeking the Senate seat to be vacated by Senator Bill Frist in 2006 and has raised a significant amount of money for his campaign to become the Democratic frontrunner in the race.
During his stop in Lewisburg last week, Ford spoke with several individuals on the crowd on a range of topics that mattered to them. Two of the main topics were the war in Iraq and health care. Speaking with representatives of NHC Homecare of Lewisburg, Sandy Owen and Glenda Wright, Ford listened as the health care providers spoke of the hardships facing many Tennesseans due to the high cost of health care.
"We have patients who literally have to choose between buying their medication or buying their food," said Wright.
Owen said the government did not do enough to regulate itself; and in the effort to stop TennCare fraud, it wound up hurting those who truly needed the health care safety net and used it correctly.
"The federal government should be reforming and not cutting", said Ford.
Ford stated that he believed the government should focus on making changes in the health care system that addresses the cases of fraud that have hurt programs like TennCare but at the same time still be capable of providing assistance to those who truly need such programs.
The conversations Ford held with the people Thursday were similar to those he has had with people along his many stops during his Senate campaign that took him to Pulaski later in the day last Thursday. After meeting with several individuals, Ford took the opportunity to speak to the entire crowd at Jimmy's Deli.
Ford thanked everyone for coming out to speak with him and for sharing their hopes as well as concerns about the direction of the country. He reminded the crowd that the day marked the anniversary of when Rosa Parks declined to give up her seat on the bus creating a social change in America that continues to this day.
"Wherever people might have been fifty years ago, that is irrelevant now, were at a better place because of it," said Ford.
Ford relayed his hopes about the continued progress of the country in spite of many of the difficult issues facing the citizens and the current administration of President George Bush. He said that many people believe that this is a time for Democrats to jump on Republicans but he does not share in that view.
"I'm a Democrat and I'm a proud one," said Ford. "But, I'm an American first."
Ford said that there are too many important issues facing the country from education and health care to the soldiers who are serving and giving their lives over seas that it is not the time to be labeling the Republican party with negative terms.
"The reality is that I think the country will take a good set of answers to Iraq whether a Democrat introduces it or a Republican introduces it."
He said the people would be better served by coming up with answers to the health care issues facing the country than engaging in a war of words between the opposing parties. Ford said that he often is criticized by fellow Democrats for his support of the President through prayer and other forms of encouragement in the hopes that the President can get the country out of the situation in Iraq quickly, efficiently and by maintaining the nations dignity.
At the same time, Ford expressed disappointment by the latest speech delivered by President Bush on his plan for Iraq that he believed to be simply the same rhetoric coming from the White House since support of the war has waned.
"If indeed managing the Iraq war was a business, George Bush would have been fired a long time ago," said Ford.
Ford defended the idea put forth recently by Pennsylvania Representative John Murtha. Murtha, a decorated soldier of the Vietnam War and considered by many to be a hawkish Democrat, proposed a plan to withdraw troops from Iraq as soon as possible. Ford said many fellow members of Congress recently attacked Murtha and his proposal on the floor during session forcing Ford to be one to come to his defense.
"His idea is simple, to take the troops that we have in Iraq and lets redeploy them, redeploy about half of them outside the country and have them ready, for those of you with military experience; put them in a posture of being an over-the-horizon force so that if unrest breaks out or civil war breaks out, we can send the troops right back in."
Ford said the other part of Murthas plan would be to take the remaining half of our forces and put them about two or three days away. The purpose of the redeployment plan, according to Ford, would accomplish three crucial points: first, it would force the Iraqis to govern and defend themselves faster; second, it would remove Americans as the primary target of the insurgency and make it more difficult for the insurgents to gather support from the Iraqi people; and third, the redeployment would cut down on the number of U.S. troops being killed or injured.
"I can only hope that the President, with all his passion and all his patriotism, will be willing to listen to other voices and be willing to consider some other options as we try are hardest to bring our troops home," said Ford.
Ford said that winning the war also includes using the innovative minds and ideas that have made America great and put them to use on creating alternative sources of energy so that we can move away from a reliance on the oil resources of other countries.
"Four years, two months and twenty days after we were attacked, we buy more gas from them and we pay more for it than we did before; and all I ask of us is who do you think is getting the last laugh," said Ford.
"If eleven years from today, if my little brother Andrew has to go to the same gas station we have to go to, to pump fuel into his car the way you and I do, then we've lost the war."
Ford called on support from the people to help the government work toward creating alternative sources of energy to power homes and churches and alternative sources of fuel to power automobiles and machinery. Ford said that he believes a focus on finding alternative sources of energy can result in discovering cheaper, cleaner and more efficient means of creating power for America.
The other positive would be creating alternative sources of power would be the potential to export those sources to other countries such as China and India which account for one third of the worlds population combined. Their need for sources of energy will continue to grow as their populations grow and America can capitalize on those energy needs to help fight back against the current trade deficit enjoyed by China today.
"The great product need going forward into the 21'st century will be energy products," said Ford.
Ford closed by asking for the support of the people, even as opponents will certainly make mention of his family from Memphis and their troubles and foibles over the years.
"All I can do is love them", said Ford. "And if somebody has done something wrong, let them deal with the consequences of it."
Ford asked again for the support of the people in Marshall County as well as those across the state to join with him in his campaign to help improve the politics in Washington and to help straighten the direction of not only Tennessee but of the nation as a whole.
"Tennessee has had a great tradition of sending people to the Senate who kind of rise above the partisanship to do what is in the best interest of the country," said Ford. "I hope to be able to follow in that tradition, not only for the state but for the country."
Source: Harold Ford Jr. U.S. Senate
