I know where this feeling is coming from... and it's a nice thought...but on the other hand it seems like we have been making it pretty clear already how much he means to us... and it doesn't make much sense to do something that would take energy away from campaigning efforts. Certainly the best gift we can give either of them is to properly take care of things while he's "away."

What a sweet idea, stillidealistic.

This is a website where you can call into a phone number and leave a recorded message, and then anyone can play back the messages online:
http://earfl.com/groups/356

Senator Obama's suspending his campaign to visit his ailing grandmother in Hawaii is a sure sign that the Republicans are going to open the Reverend Wright can of worms in the next few days.

What Obama does with all this is to hit the news cycle first with a huge human interest story that will remind the voters that Obama was raised by a nice old white lady from Kansas, ergo he is not really that "different". In the next few days TV viewers will be treated to endless "profiles" of Madelyn Dunham.

At the risk of sounding too cynical; if Mrs. Dunham chose this weekend to pass on, thus offering the candidate and his wife the opportunity of weeping copiously at her graveside, this might offset some of the damage that ten days of Jeremiah Wright's God damning America in an endless loop will surely produce.

What can we do? Contribute to and vote for her grandson. I hope she sees him take the oath of office.

Contribute to Obama's campaign and in the optional message field, leave a get well message or something.

Let me say this. If his Tutu dies soon, then she'll be "watching over him" for us.

...it's been weighing on my mind that she may not live long enough to see him elected President. I'm wondering what, if anything we might be able to do to let her know what her grandson means to us...her how grateful we are that she helped raise such a special man? Something coordinated that she might be able to watch on tv?...

Is it a crazy idea?

I think it's a good idea if you think interest in politicians' private lives is good for this country. But be forewarned, if his granny being sick is something that a group should be involved in and take their own initiative on, then other groups will feel it is appropriate that the rest of his family and private life is fair game, too.

Why is his granny's current situation of such interest to you that it is weighing on your mind? Did you also organize condolence movements when Bill Clinton's mother and Hillay Clinton's father died while Bill Clinton was in office? Or when Jimmy Carter lost family members? Something you do regularly, like those that do volunteer work in sending grief condolences to people they don't know? Ask yourself, do you think this is this a regular thing people should do or is it just because you feel Obama is your personal friend or acquaintance and the others weren't? If it's the latter, why is that, and is it a good thing for this country? Will it mean you will give him the benefit of the doubt that you give actual real family and not treat him like he is someone you have hired to do a job? You do realize that many felt this way about Ronald Reagan and JFK?

Remember Obama saying spouses should be "hands off"? If you were Obama, would you like the idea of a huge press contingent camping out at your granny's deathbed because people have shown a great deal of interest when she got ill?

There is nothing wrong with sending condolences to someone who is a public figure. But I feel that organizing a mass movement to do something like that is stepping a bit over a line. There are ways of etiquette for this that are followed for good reason. For example, they have state funerals and public funerals. And that doesn't include "Something coordinated that she might be able to watch on tv." The family is the one who choses the way in which the public should be allowed in butting into their private life, not the public. Obama's granny has not chosen a public life so far as I know.

I myself wish we were more like other countries where people do not feel like they need to follow politicians' private lives and get involved in those lives. At times it seems like many Americans expect a first family to fill the role of a royal family. For me, it's only a short leap from people thinking they should send cards to Obama's granny, to thinking they should know every detail of what a president is doing with an intern and what effect it has on his wife and daughter, or knowing everthing about Sarah Palin's family and going to her rallies because she is really a "MILF." That people are so interested is why we get more attention to things from the White House like videos of the first family pets' activities rather than where they are thinking of intervening internationally.

He's asking for the job of public servant, not the job of friend, king, or celebrity with fans. I'm resigned to the fact that people in this country want to idolize their favorite president, but I still don't have to believe it's a good thing, especially in a democracy where the founders specifically tried to limit the power of the single executive. After all, they themselves failed, as George Washington was idolized.

At the risk of repeating myself, I believe this visit to granny's house with a basket of goodies is a ploy to foil the big, bad , wolf and take control of the media cycle by sending the message that Obama, contrary to Reverend Wright, just loves white folks. While I believe it is only a ploy, I think it is perfectly legitimate (she is his granny) and very smart one. Whether it'll work or not is another story.

Keep in mind that if she dies, you're post is going to look real bad.

Obama is lucky, with the kind of unbelievable luck the Arabs call.... "baracka".

"Don't mess with my tout-tout", cajun song that everyone thought said "tu-tu". "Tout-tout" is an endearment, supposedly.

Hey People! It's not political! Here's a woman in her old age who is gravely ill and her son who is working his backside off for a good cause. If you can't find anything to sympathize with in either of them, put your positive energy towards someone (or something) in whom you can.

As my mother used to say, if you can't say anything nice don't say anything.