If you want to see the future of the Democratic Party..

[JoeChalupa]

tune in tonight to Larry King Live on CNN.

Sen. Barack Obama will be on tonight. He has my full support. Does he have faults? Doesn't everyone?
But this man fires me up when it comes to the future our party!!

[101A]

If he runs, as some close to him are suggesting he will, Hillary stands to lose the most.

Therefore...

He will be unelectable when the Clintons and their ilk get done with him. Hillary wants it; for that reason, he won't run; he'll be her running mate - deals being hashed out right now, I bet.

[JoeChalupa]

If he runs, as some close to him are suggesting he will, Hillary stands to lose the most.

Therefore...

He will be unelectable when the Clintons and their ilk get done with him. Hillary wants it; for that reason, he won't run; he'll be her running mate - deals being hashed out right now, I bet.

I'm backing Obama. Hillary will just need to bite the bullet and realize she missed her chance. But Obama, I pray and hope, will move the democratic party back to where it needs to be.

[boutons_]

conservative supports BO:

October 19, 2006
Op-Ed Columnist

Run, Barack, Run

By DAVID BROOKS

Springfield, Illinois

Barack Obama should run for president.

He should run first for the good of his party. It would demoralize the Democrats to go through a long primary season with the most exciting figure in the party looming off in the distance like some unapproachable dream. The next Democratic nominee should either be Barack Obama or should have the stature that would come from defeating Barack Obama.

Second, he should run because of his age. Obama’s inexperience is his most obvious shortcoming. Over the next four years, the world could face a genocidal civil war in Iraq, a wave of nuclear proliferation, more Islamic extremism and a demagogues’ revolt against globalization. Do we really want a forty-something in the White House?

And yet in his new book, “The Audacity of Hope,” Obama makes a strong counterargument. He notes that it’s time to move beyond the political style of the baby boom generation. This is a style, he said in an interview late Tuesday, that is highly moralistic and personal, dividing people between who is good and who is bad.

Obama himself has a mentality formed by globalization, not the S.D.S. With his multiethnic family and his globe-spanning childhood, there is a little piece of everything in Obama. He is perpetually engaged in an internal discussion between different pieces of his hybrid self — Kenya with Harvard, Kansas with the South Side of Chicago — and he takes that conversation outward into the world.

“Politics, like science, depends on our ability to persuade each other of common aims based on a common reality,” he writes in his book. He distrusts righteous anger and zeal. He does not demonize his opponents and tells audiences that he does not think George Bush is a bad man.

He has a compulsive tendency to see both sides of any issue. Joe Klein of Time counted 50 instances of extremely judicious on-the-one-hand-on the-other-hand formulations in the book. He seems like the guy who spends his first 15 minutes at a restaurant debating the relative merits of fish versus meat.

And yet this style is surely the antidote to the politics of the past several years. It is surely true that a president who brings a deliberative style to the White House will multiply his knowledge, not divide it.

During our talk, I reminded Obama that at some level politics is about power, not conversation. He pointed out that he’d risen from nothing to national prominence in a few years so he knew something about acquiring power, but he kept returning to his mode, which is conversation, deliberation and reconciliation.

The third reason Obama should run for president is his worldview. At least in the way he conceptualizes the world, he is not an orthodox liberal. In the book, he harks back to a Hamiltonian tradition that calls not for big government, but for limited yet energetic government to enhance social mobility. The contemporary guru he cites most is Warren Buffett.

He has interesting things to say about the way culture and economics intertwine to create urban poverty. He, conceptually, welcomes free trade and thinks the U.S. may have no choice but to improvise and slog it out in Iraq.

The chief problem in his book is that after launching off on some interesting description of a problem, he will settle back, when it comes time to make a policy suggestion, into a familiar and small-bore Democratic proposal. I’d give him an A for conception but a B-minus for policy creativity.

Obama, who is nothing if not honest about himself, is aware of the problem, and has various explanations for it. And what matters at this point is not his platform, but the play of his mind. He is one of those progressives, like Gordon Brown in Britain, who is thinking about the challenges of globalization outside the normal clichés.

Coming from my own perspective, I should note that I disagree with many of Obama’s notions and could well end up agreeing more with one of his opponents. But anyone who’s observed him closely can see that Obama is a new kind of politician. As Klein once observed, he’s that rarest of creatures: a megahyped phenomenon that lives up to the hype.

It may not be personally convenient for him, but the times will never again so completely require the gifts that he possesses. Whether you’re liberal or conservative, you should hope Barack Obama runs for president.

===================

You can bet $1000 that Rove and Mehlman already have this guy targeted for swift-boating and vicious slime jobs.

[Extra Stout]

Barack Obama has an unparalleled oratorical ability to take liberal ideas, and communicate them in a way that the unsophisticated conservative listener thinks he agrees with them.

[xrayzebra]

And not only that Oprah is supporting him. So he is a shoo in and Oprah for
VP. Damn, wished I could learn to shed tears at the right time and make her
kinda money. Is America great or what? Oh, I forgot, blacks are the disadvantaged,
well some.

[Zunni]

How can Obama have faults? Don't you have to have positions on issues to have faults? The man stands for nada...

[Trainwreck2100]

Obama/Hillary=Landslide Repub. victory, this country is not ready for a minority or a female president.

[Nbadan]

I see your Obama with Robert Kennedy Jr.


http://www.sierraclubplus.org/insider/images031505/RFK.jpeg

[JoeChalupa]

Obama/Hillary=Landslide Repub. victory, this country is not ready for a minority or a female president.

I think it is you who is not ready.

[101A]

There are plenty of minority and/or women who could be president.

I, too, would like a non-baby boomer to run and win. MAYBE then we could do something about Social Security.

I think I'm gonna get Obama's book.

I still think he'll be Hillary's running mate; no way they go mano a femano.

[johnsmith]

I like this cat too, but I'm sure he'll run for president, win, and then just become one of "them". I have no faith in our elected officials any longer and only look out for myself now.........sue me.

[RandomGuy]

I'm backing Obama. Hillary will just need to bite the bullet and realize she missed her chance. But Obama, I pray and hope, will move the democratic party back to where it needs to be.

Yup.

The GOP doesn't have ANYONE who could even touch this guy in terms of class. I would love to be proved wrong about that.

[RandomGuy]

I like this cat too, but I'm sure he'll run for president, win, and then just become one of "them". I have no faith in our elected officials any longer and only look out for myself now.........sue me.

The subpoena is in the mail...
:greedy

Seriously, I don't quite share your cynicism. There are good people in politics. What makes it politics is that good people have to sometimes achieve less-than-optimal solutions because less-than-optimal is sometimes the only way to do things.

[boutons_]

I don't know whether Obama has what it takes, but fuck it all, at least the guy is articulate, which is a big negative for many red-staters. They don't like their leaders too articulate, not too smart, they like them dumb, simplistic, down-home, tongue-tied like dubya (and like themselves).

[101A]

I don't know whether Obama has what it takes, but fuck it all, at least the guy is articulate, which is a big negative for many red-staters. They don't like their leaders too articulte, not too smart, they like them dumb, simplistic, down-home, tongue-tied like dubya.

When you distrust the gubmint; it's reassuring to be pretty sure you're smarter than the top banana.

[DarkReign]

I like the guy immensely. If and when he were to ever entertain the idea of running for the WH, I would do serious research into his stance on key issues.

As it stands, he seems to be very common-sense oriented, which by political standard is a real exception. Disagreeing with a candidate on some hot-button issue hasnt deterred me from casting my vote in their favor before, and it certainly wouldnt in this man's case.

[DarkReign]

When you distrust the gubmint; it's reassuring to be pretty sure you're smarter than the top banana.

Scary but true. It gives sheeple the ludicrous idea that they in fact could probably do better.

[xrayzebra]

I don't know whether Obama has what it takes, but fuck it all, at least the guy is articulate, which is a big negative for many red-staters. They don't like their leaders too articulate, not too smart, they like them dumb, simplistic, down-home, tongue-tied like dubya (and like themselves).

I just don't get it, Bush is dumb, he cant speak, he misspeaks, he is a
cowboy......but he causes all the problems in the world.

How does he do all those negative things. And he keeps beating
the dimms at the voting booth. And comes up with all the plans to
stymie all the dimms plans.....oh, I forgot you got to have a plan to be
stymied.

[JoeChalupa]

His new book is a great inspiration and I've bought copies for a few young family members. Very impressive.

[CubanMustGo]

Yup.

The GOP doesn't have ANYONE who could even touch this guy in terms of class. I would love to be proved wrong about that.

Colin Powell could give him a run. Too bad he didn't run in '00 or '04. The only decent guy in the whole administration of Bush the Lesser, who for his trouble got used, abused, and spit out by Buschencrofeld.

[Zunni]

I just don't get it, Bush is dumb, he cant speak, he misspeaks, he is a
cowboy......but he causes all the problems in the world.

How does he do all those negative things. And he keeps beating
the dimms at the voting booth. And comes up with all the plans to
stymie all the dimms plans.....oh, I forgot you got to have a plan to be
stymied.

Dumb people can cause problems, too. Failure to listen is a "dumb" trait, and the cause of most of the problems brought about by this administration.

[Nbadan]

Obama may be the future, future, but Gen. Wesley Clark is the immediate future...(you just don't know it yet, but you will)...


http://www.nato.int/pictures/review/9902/b9902-31.jpg

[01Snake]

Obama may be the future, future, but Gen. Wesley Clark is the immediate future...(you just don't know it yet, but you will)...


http://www.nato.int/pictures/review/9902/b9902-31.jpg

Madonna agrees with you.
:lol

[JoeChalupa]

I'd vote for Obama before I'd vote for Clark.

[greywheel]

CNN-Obama considers presidential run (http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/10/22/obama.presidency/index.html)


WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sen. Barack Obama said Sunday that he may run for president in 2008, despite previous assertions that he would complete his current six-year senatorial term, which ends in 2011.

"I would say I am still at the point where I have not made a decision to pursue higher office, but it is true that I have thought about it over the last several months," the 45-year-old Democratic senator from Illinois told NBC's "Meet the Press."

In January, Obama told NBC that he would not run for president or vice president in 2008.

Asked Sunday about his earlier stance, Obama said, "That was how I was thinking at that time."

"I don't want to be coy about this, given the responses that I've been getting over the last several months," he said. "I have thought about the possibility, but I have not thought about it with the seriousness and depth that I think is required."

Obama has given a slew of interviews in recent weeks to television shows, magazines and other publications to promote his new book, "The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream." The book, published last week, touches on themes of race and identity. (Watch Obama talk about his plans on Larry King Live -- 11:37 )

He wove many of the same topics into his 2004 Democratic convention speech. The speech, and his election to the Senate that same year, helped propel the attorney and father of two to an overnight political sensation in Democratic circles.

"He is so appealing because he has escaped some of the normal, you know, bad stuff that happens to people on the campaign trail," Lynne Sweet, a columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times, said Sunday on CNN's "Reliable Sources."

"And here's the realization I think his people and Sen. Obama is coming to, and it's this: you can't time timing."

Other columnists have hailed Obama as the solution to the Democratic Party's woes in winning elections.

"The next Democratic nominee should either be Barack Obama or should have the stature that would come from defeating Barack Obama," David Brooks, a conservative op-ed columnist for The New York Times, wrote in his Thursday column, entitled, "Run, Barack, Run."

Frank Rich, a liberal op-ed columnist for the same newspaper, wrote in his Sunday piece that much of the Democrats' long-term success will depend on whether "Obama steps up and changes the party before the party of terminal timidity and equivocation changes him."

Political analysts have also speculated that another Democrat, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, is gearing up for a presidential bid in 2008. In a Sunday debate with Republican challenger John Spencer, the junior senator from New York wouldn't say definitively if she would complete her six-year term if re-elected.

Spencer accused her of using New Yorkers' time to run for president. Clinton would make a "tremendous candidate for the president of the United States but not at the expense of New Yorkers," he said. (Full story)

This month, former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, a man many saw as another possible Democratic presidential contender, ruled out a 2008 bid.

[JoeChalupa]

I watched Barack Obama on Meet The Press and he did say he will make a decision after the Nov. 7 elections. I'm sure he'll get pressure from party officials one way or the other. He did say he'd do what he feels is best for the party.
The man is a born leader.

[boutons_]

"he will make a decision after the Nov. 7 elections."

... which has since sent huge waves through the ranks of Dem officials.

[101A]

I watched Barack Obama on Meet The Press and he did say he will make a decision after the Nov. 7 elections. I'm sure he'll get pressure from party officials one way or the other. He did say he'd do what he feels is best for the party.
The man is a born leader.

Doing what is best for the Country would make him a born leader.

Doing what is best for the Party makes him a partisan politician.

[Ocotillo]

Doing what is best for the Country would make him a Republican.

What country would that be?

[johnsmith]

There are plenty of minority and/or women who could be president.

I, too, would like a non-baby boomer to run and win. MAYBE then we could do something about Social Security.

I think I'm gonna get Obama's book.

I still think he'll be Hillary's running mate; no way they go mano a femano.


You should get a job, that way you won't have to worry so much about social security.

[johnsmith]

There are plenty of minority and/or women who could be president.

I, too, would like a non-baby boomer to run and win. MAYBE then we could do something about Social Security.

I think I'm gonna get Obama's book.

I still think he'll be Hillary's running mate; no way they go mano a femano.

[101A]

You should get a job, that way you won't have to worry so much about social security.


:lol

I don't need no stinking Social Security. Doesn't mean I don't think it should be fixed.

BTW, dumbass; if you don't have a job you don't GET SS.

[johnsmith]

:lol

I don't need no stinking Social Security. Doesn't mean I don't think it should be fixed.

BTW, dumbass; if you don't have a job you don't GET SS.


Well see jackass, then you don't have to worry about it. Since you are unemployed, the issue will never come up for ya will it?

[boutons_]

Apparently the Repugs WANT BO to run, knowing that can put up a Repug ticket that will destroy him as a black man, by pandering to Repug racists.

And they can pander to the Repug xenophobes and jingoes, since anybody with a name like Barak Obama can't a real American anyway.

[101A]

Apparently the Repugs WANT BO to run, knowing that can put up a Repug ticket that will destroy him as a black man, by pandering to Repug racists.

And they can pander to the Repug xenophobes and jingoes, since anybody with a name like Barak Obama can't a real American anyway.


I honestly believe you are selling the American Public short. I think they can be led around by there noses, and don't pay attention to what is going on most of the time - couldn't name the speaker of the house on a bet and all that. But I do not think the race card will work anymore.

Hell, Lieberman got more votes for VP than Cheney - the fact that he was Jewish never entered in.

[johnsmith]

I honestly believe you are selling the American Public short. I think they can be led around by there noses, and don't pay attention to what is going on most of the time - couldn't name the speaker of the house on a bet and all that. But I do not think the race card will work anymore.

Hell, Lieberman got more votes for VP than Cheney - the fact that he was Jewish never entered in.


Although I now dislike you 101A, I would agree with you on this one.

[JoeChalupa]

Barack even has Rush Limpballs talking about him. I can tell by his smack talk that deep inside he knows Barack can win. Oh yeah.

He's all over it 'cause he knows how Obama can get the moderate vote.

Of course he also referred to him as "Barack Osama" so that also shows how much of an idiot Rush is.

[Extra Stout]

Well see jackass, then you don't have to worry about it. Since you are unemployed, the issue will never come up for ya will it?
Well, given that a significant portion of my paycheck goes into Social Security, I feel rather irritated that is devolving into nothing but a pyramid scheme, with my generation getting the shaft.

Usually, when somebody is robbing me blind, it pisses me off, even if I'm well enough off that I "don't have to worry about it."

[johnsmith]

Well, given that a significant portion of my paycheck goes into Social Security, I feel rather irritated that is devolving into nothing but a pyramid scheme, with my generation getting the shaft.

Usually, when somebody is robbing me blind, it pisses me off, even if I'm well enough off that I "don't have to worry about it."


Ummm, who are you talking to? I was speaking to 101A, and it was a joke. Get over it dumbass.

[101A]

Although I now dislike you 101A, I would agree with you on this one.

I don't know you.

[johnsmith]

I don't know you.


No shit. I don't know you either, what's your point?

You say a lot of things without a point don't you? It must drive your husband mad.

[spurs_fan_in_exile]

Apparently the Repugs WANT BO to run, knowing that can put up a Repug ticket that will destroy him as a black man, by pandering to Repug racists.

And they can pander to the Repug xenophobes and jingoes, since anybody with a name like Barak Obama can't a real American anyway.

Most who would go for those tactics probably weren't going to vote for anyone with a "D" next to their name on the ballot. Where they'll eat him alive is on his lack of experience. I have no idea what his position on social security is but I expect he'll get painted as some younster who speaks for the greedy little whippersnappers who want to take SS away from the old people so it will be there for themselves in the future.

But I agree with one of the first posts in here which said that Hillary is going drag him through the mud so she can live out her little dream of being the first woman presidential candidate of a major party to lose an election by at least 15 points. Winning that primary for Obama would probably mean getting into a major political slugfest with Hillary which would have two possible outcomes, and both are bad for the Democratic party. Either Hillary wins it, but in the process hits Obama so hard that she comes out of it painted as a greedy harpy who wouldn't stand aside for a rising star, or Obama gets in the trenches, fights her fight and wins, but tarnishes his image as a man above politics.

[Extra Stout]

Apparently the Repugs WANT BO to run, knowing that can put up a Repug ticket that will destroy him as a black man, by pandering to Repug racists.

And they can pander to the Repug xenophobes and jingoes, since anybody with a name like Barak Obama can't a real American anyway.
Since you hate evangelical Christians, know nothing about them, and have no interest in understanding them, you are completely blind to the danger Barack Obama presents to Republican hegemony over evangelical politics.

Evangelical Christians to you are just knuckle-dragging racist monkeys who of course would never vote for Barack Obama because he is mixed-race.

I disagree with a LOT of what Barack Obama believes, because after all he is really quite the liberal. But when I heard him speak in 2004... he was the first person I've heard in American politics make the liberal case in evangelical terms, and make it sound like no sane Christian could ever believe anything but that. I know what I believe well enough to know that I disagreed with what he said, though I was duly impressed by how he said it. Rhetorically, this guy blows Clinton into the weeds.

A sizable chunk of evangelicals will follow him. I'm telling you right now. He has the mojo. I won't follow him, but many will.

[101A]

... but I expect he'll get painted as some younster who speaks for the greedy little whippersnappers who want to take SS away from the old people so it will be there for themselves in the future.



On This Week yesterday, Kerry dropped a "if he thinks he's ready" quip subtely while he talked about all of Obama's virtues.

If he takes on Gore, Kerry AND Hillary - he'll get alot of that, and will have, or have not, diffused it long before the general election ever rolls around.

[RandomGuy]

Quote:
Originally Posted by elpimpo4cc "Doing what is best for the Country would make him a Republican."
What country would that be?

The country where the GOP has been completely taken over by radicals and corporate interests and sorely needs a real leader.

I think he was making a roundabout point about politics in general.

[DarkReign]

Ummm, who are you talking to? I was speaking to 101A, and it was a joke. Get over it dumbass.

I like ya JS. Advice: dont wake the sleeping giant.

For what its worth I guess.

[ABDENOUR POWER]

I've been pimping Obama for over a year now. The man is simply incredible.

[Guru of Nothing]

Lone Green Libertarian checking in - I endorse Barack Obama.

[Ocotillo]

Hmmmm. Obama makes his first controversial move..... (http://nedlamont.com/blog/1976/barack-obama-writes-emails)

Ned Lamont has waged an impressive grassroots campaign to give the people of Connecticut a choice in the November Senate election. He has a vision for his state and country, and his campaign has been about presenting that vision to Connecticut voters.

Ned Lamont and I share a commitment to bringing our troops home safely from Iraq, to achieving energy independence, to helping all our citizens realize the American dream, and to empowering the American people to reclaim their government. Ned Lamont’s campaign is about delivering on these goals in Washington.

The November 7th election is right around the corner. Please join me in supporting Ned Lamont with your hard work on-the-ground in these closing weeks of the campaign.

http://www.nedlamont.com/downthestretch

We all watched Ned’s improbable primary victory two months ago. His campaign generated a record turnout that saw 30,000 new Democrats vote to change course at home and abroad.

Ned earned the Democratic Senate nomination through his hard work and clear message. And his victory paved the way for an entire crop of Democratic challengers to stand up and fight for the common good. Today the candidacies of Diane Farrell, Joe Courtney and Chris Murphy are integral to the Democrats’ strategy to regain the majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.

A majority of Connecticut Democrats supported Ned Lamont in the August primary. I hope they will see this impressive movement through to the end by volunteering their time with Ned in these next two weeks.

http://www.nedlamont.com/downthestretch

Sincerely,



http://barackobama.com/images/obama_sig.gif

Wonder how Judas Lieberman feels about that?

[Guru of Nothing]

I like ya JS. Advice: dont wake the sleeping giant.

For what its worth I guess.

hahaha ....I missed this the first go round.

Don't spit into the wind!

[Guru of Nothing]

Wonder how Judas Lieberman feels about that?

Well, at least he still has the same (cough, despurado, cough) name.