On our website, we have an interview with Historian Howard Zinn. He says change does not happen from the top, not from the Presidency, but from the people. The people are the ones who force the cork to pop, the pressure becomes to great and the leaders must give in Zinn says.

It’s an important message for people who have come to embrace and even become enthralled with the notion of Barack Obama or a Barack Obama Presidency. Obama has done a phenomenal job organizing and energizing people who have in the past been un-energizable, not because of their own lack of interest or intelligence, but because no one has spoken to them before. But inspiration doesn’t only bring about positive impacts, it can be dangerous; dangerous when people relay all their faith and trust in one individual.

After all the traveling I’ve done for this election and heard the same Obama stump speech over and over again, I heard something different Saturday in Parma Heights, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland. Obama said “no president can bring about change unless the people hold their President accountable.”

Sure this is a general theme of Obama’s, but I’ve never heard him articulate it in such a direct way. He usually sites his time as a community organizer where he’s seen “ordinary people do extraordinary things.”

But for Obama to say directly that the people force change was noteworthy. (I like to think that Obama’s campaign, or even Obama, saw our website and decided to enforce his message!)

Maybe it’s reassurance to those who are skeptical of Obamamania. Regardless, Obama will be closely watched if he becomes the nominee and if he becomes the President, to see if he continues to listen to the people, doesn’t let the realm of power allow him to become blinded. We’ve seen it before and power is well, powerful. Obama must be watched and held accountable. Regardless of what was said between an Obama campaign staffer and a Canadian government official regarding NAFTA, even it is a campaign tactic drummed up by the Clinton campaign, Obama must answer to the people and be held to his word. He's raised the bar.

At Hillary Clinton's event at Cleveland State University Sunday night, I ran into a lot of New Yorkers. New York high school honor students who gain community service hours by traveling to Ohio to help the Clinton campaign get out the vote. Another group of at least a dozen New Yorkers thrilled to see their US Representative, Anthony Weiner who is campaigning for Clinton, after this political rally also helped to fill the bleachers.

This New York group of supporters all wore hats that read 'Hillary for Clean Coal.' They said they received the hats from a local group in Ohio. Regardless, 'clean' coal is not something Clinton mentions on the campaign trail too often. It rarely comes up when she talks about the 'green jobs' she plans on creating. But In Ohio, two 'clean coal' plants are a very near reality. Two are slated to be built but legal challenges are slowing the process.

Barack Obama also says he supports 'clean coal'. Like Clinton, Obama has said in the past that coal must be part of the energy mix. He said it again at a campaign stop Sunday Tribune reports. Near Ohio's border with West Virginia in Appalachia, Obama told the crowd the US is the Saudi Arabia of coal and must be utilized.