CNN-Obama considers presidential run
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 iden y. (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, en led, "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.
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.
"he will make a decision after the Nov. 7 elections."
... which has since sent huge waves through the ranks of Dem officials.
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.
What country would that be?
You should get a job, that way you won't have to worry so much about social security.
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.
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?
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.
, 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.
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.
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.
I don't know you.
No . 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I like ya JS. Advice: dont wake the sleeping giant.
For what its worth I guess.
I've been pimping Obama for over a year now. The man is simply incredible.
Lone Green Libertarian checking in - I endorse Barack Obama.
Hmmmm. Obama makes his first controversial move.....
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,
Wonder how Judas Lieberman feels about that?
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