Obama urges service in ads

Didn't George H.W. Bush try promoting volunteerism? He got booted off the political stage. Didn't George W. Bush appoint some staff who had been in previous administrations? He was mocked from the start. Didn't George W. Bush also try a stimulus package? Didn't some folks ridicule his decision to put a relatively small amount of $ back into the hands of the people, instead of using it to pay government bills? This is just a reminder that it's not WHAT you do, it's the public's perception of you that determines whether your actions are viewed as good or bad.

why would he ask me to do more when this whole program will be mandatory?

sorry buddy, your just going to have to arrest me, i'm not joining your civilian army. this is a soft draft, when will people realize it

When Obama gets done ruining the economy, we're all going to be working for free.

My suggestion for the next presidential administration is to review how IRS is targeting the very small charity organizations that are providing from free food to free counseling services. Some of these volunteers use their homes to feed the homeless etc. - yet when they claim certain reasonable charity expenses in their tax returns, IRS send their "bullies" to collect meager taxes, penalties, interests etc., while the big corporations, mega-company charity organizations paying their CEOs $400,000 are getting a free ride at the average taxpayer. Signed a former volunteer.

"Ask not what your country will do for you. Ask what you can do for your country".

In gthe '60's I saw posters and mementos in people's homes about truth, honor and the American way. I'm starting to see those same things again. Hope is what this country is about. Those of you who don't understand that need to go live somewhere else for a while until you understand what this country and we Americans are about.

Stop the wars.
Cut govt. spending.
Get the govt. off our backs.
Let the bad businesses fail.

All of this will equal a huge amount of savings and no needed for "volunteering".
Oh no, America- you had the chance to vote for Ron Paul who would have brought back limited Constitutional govt. but....nooooooo....you had to vote for McCain or Obama.

you people in the USA are the luckiest people alive in the world today - you have a president who is talented and who cares and understands that without everyone pulling together, civilisation fails. There is no president or government in the world today with that kind of leadership. Don't be foolish enough to throw it away in selfish capitalist individualism. You are so lucky and you don't even know it

I, for one, think this is AWESOME for America - a wake-up call to jump-start those wanting to get involved and not knowing how - and recognition for the multitudes of community heroes that have been serving all these years and are the essential fabric of our communities. For those wanting to plan service projects with their own friends, neighbors, coworkers and congregation - VolunteerSpot.com has a volunteer signup tool that's free and easy. Get involved!!

Where are the pandemicflu.gov ads? Say what it says on the Individual and Community pages, since Oct..2005. Don't volunteer; educate yourself first:
There is lack of coverage of Pandemic Flu Alert & of the ongoing H5N1 human cluster "Rapid Response and Containment" operations abroad; to delay Pandemic year start. Supposed to be using this time to prepare locally and at home; 2006 state panflu summits with HHS.
Nations enron-ing "offical case" numbers from this dangerous virus out of China, to 'not hurt tourism' or due to other "poltical and economic" pressures isn't going to "prevent panic" nor it is making us safer. Quite the contrary.

See GetPandemicReady.org

There is so much to be gained from public service both for the giver (sense of connection to the community and valued contributions to make a positive difference, in this too-fragmented world) and to the "needy" receiver (local environmental quality, in the case of the group I assist). The things done by volunteers are the things that would fall through the cracks for decades otherwise. My group has pulled over 500 tires from the local riverbed areas and over 1200 bags of trash from sensitive areas and planted almost 1000 native trees in the greenway corridor. In the process we've connected with many hundreds of our local fellow Americans who realize this place is worth caring about. I'm glad to see endorsement of this philosophy from the top.

'Community service' is an interesting choice of words. Here in NZ offenders are sometimes sentenced to do 'community service' as a punishment instead of imprisonment.

And interestingly, that kind of punishment is often used when the crime is a non-violent one such as white collar crime, for example cons, fraud, insider trading etc.

So the American way is to give the bankers who messed everything up billions of bailout dollars, and the people who are out of a job because of it are supposed to do 'community service'? Seems backwards to me.