Barak Obama

[mad_dog]

He seems to have come from nowhere to suddenly become one of the three people most likely to become the next President of the US (Clinton and Rudy being the others) He's raised a war chest of over 24 million and has made steady gains against Hillary Clinton in terms of Democratic nomination support (26% to Clintons 34%)

He may be light on policy but he's got Bill's Charisma and natural flare. He is also free from the trail of Washington/New York ooze that dogs the other two front runners. mad_dog thinks he has potential.


What are the views of the American body politic?

[YellowTrip]

No Chance , he's black.

[Boon Mee]

^
His mother was white so that makes him an Oreo!

[barbaro]

Two other threads already on this man.

We'll see how things progress.

We still have 18 more months until election day.

[William]

^yes, judging by the speech he gave last weeked, Big Al may be about to throw his hat back in the ring again

[barbaro]

^yes, judging by the speech he gave last weeked, Big Al may be about to throw his hat back in the ring again

I now think Gore will announce a run.....Maybe in Jan.

[Boon Mee]

^
Don't think so.
Usually, when a candidate runs for office, they slim down and try to look fit.
The Goreacle is getting fatter!

[YellowTrip]

^
Gore got screwed by Bush & Co. in Florida after he legally won the Presidency.

Feel bad for the guy as he would have been a much better President that Curious George.

Barak Your Mamma is a hood rat and no decent self respecting American would even consider voting for him.

[barbaro]

^
Don't think so.
Usually, when a candidate runs for office, they slim down and try to look fit.
The Goreacle is getting fatter!

He is exercising now, but keeping it fairly quiet.

[sabang]

Obama seems decent enough to me, and thats all I can say because I really have not looked at the policies or issues of the various candidates.

The problem as I see it is electability. A potentially critical percentage of the US electorate is very conservative, especially in the middle states. An Obama/Hillary ticket they would not ever vote for, no matter what the issues, because Hell, thats a black man and a woman! On the other hand, a good deal of these are arch Republican anyway- they would never vote Democrat, full stop.
For an Obama ticket to succeed, I think it would need to attract more Hispanics and blacks to vote. Traditionally, this part of the electorate is politically apathetic and rarely votes. Frankly, if The US had the same rules as Australia, namely compulsory voting, I think the Democrats would win the next election with Quasimodo as a candidate. But that is not the case.
It it's gonna be an Obama ticket, the Dems should be smart and start a campaign to get more minority voters registered to vote well before the next Presidential election.

[barbaro]

^ Agree, Sabang.

Unfortunately, race is still an integral part of voting behaviour. (Remember the racist push-polling by the W. Bush campaign in South Carolina against McCain. They did this in 2000.)

Another interesting prospect is the VP choice. The VP doesn't do much, but is chosen to woo certain factions of the electorate.

As for Obama, he seems like the one spark of hope for the U.S. IMO.

Voting records don't always reflect everything from a candidate because of so much compromise it involves, but I like Obama's voting record in the Senate.

Still, we have a long way to go.....

[raycarey]

What are the views of the American body politic?

yeah, BG started a thread which attempted to demonize obama by including his middle name, which is (GASP) 'husein' in the title.

and there's plenty of the racist drivel which some attempt to cloak behind alleged humor. in fact, here's an example from this thread....

His mother was white so that makes him an Oreo!

We still have 18 more months until election day.

good point.....obama is a smart guy with a big future, but he's by no means a seasoned campaigner, and this is probably the longest in history....it only stands to reason that he'll make a significant gaffe sometime within the next 18 months.

A potentially critical percentage of the US electorate is very conservative, especially in the middle states

true, but the key word here is 'potential'. IMO many of these conservatives are going to stay home in nov. 08.....record spending and defecits by the republican white house and cogress will keep fiscal conservatives home. and as far as social conservatives are concerned, romney's a mormon, so that certainly won't motivate the jeusus freaks to head to the polls....and speaking of which, they'll never vote for guiliani (sp?)....he gave money to planned parenthood, has been married at least three times, and has a very peculiar habit of dressing in drag.
what may get these people out to vote though, is hillary....no matter what, they will vote against her, but i don't think the same is true for obama, edwards or gore.

considering the announced republican candidates (including the one note tv actor who's being girlishly coy) a gore/obama ticket would be impossible to beat.

[barbaro]

We still have 18 more months until election day.

racarey:

good point.....obama is a smart guy with a big future, but he's by no means a seasoned campaigner, and this is probably the longest in history....it only stands to reason that he'll make a significant gaffe sometime within the next 18 months.

Obama is very smart, and he is surrounded by good handlers (I hope) like all of the candidates.

But yes, I thinks it's way, way, way, too early for any of the candidates of either party to even be speaking, travelling and going before the media.

A large portion of the public may not only burnout on the election campaigns but also on the candidates themselves.

Way, too early for all of this hoopla.

And what we constantly hearing is abstract hoopla, and some policy ideas.

I have already tuned out until the big "Tsunami Tuesday" that will happen in February - 9 months away.

[mad_dog]

Barak had a very favourable review in this weeks econmist which stated he was more likely to win against Rudy or McCain than Hillary but at present not the favourite to win nomination. The Economist went on to say that Obamas race was an asset as many Americans seek to cast off the violent biggot reputation their country now posseses.


I'll admit to being as anti American you can get but a literate and charismatic president would make a welcome change to the idiotic buffoon that dwells in the White House now. A breath of fresh air is what is needed! Who really wants 26 years of Bushes and Clintons ???

[lom]

Who really wants 26 years of Bushes and Clintons???

Ain't there any Kennedys left?

[stroller]

Teddy!

[blackgang]

By the way, obama is a muslim, that would be good.

Look what happen in south Thailand after the coup when the head man was a muslim instead of a Buddhist.
Did you notice how the killing stopped, burning of schools stopped, Blowing shit up stopped,, damn sounds like a good deal to me..

[stroller]

What's the South of Thailand got to do with Osama's confession?

Btw, "United Church of Christ" doesn't sound like a Muslim organisation to me.

[barbaro]

^^

Obama is a Xtian, or poses as one.

If he wasn't a Xtian or posing as a Xtian, he would not be running for President.

[mad_dog]

By the way, obama is a muslim, that would be good.

Look what happen in south Thailand after the coup when the head man was a muslim instead of a Buddhist.
Did you notice how the killing stopped, burning of schools stopped, Blowing shit up stopped,, damn sounds like a good deal to me..

BG is obviously some parody character dreamt up by a master of trolling. Could anyone really be this sepo???

[blackgang]

Every one else smart enough to see what the X muslim is doing, cept you

[stroller]

So, what is the "X Muslim" doing, blackgang?

Perhaps you could tell the less enlightened members here?
And how does it relate to the situation in Thailand?

[blackgang]

Boy you are really dense..

[stroller]

Thanks for this in-depth exploration of your views on Osama.

[Agent_Smith]

Of all the potential candidates running right now Obama would get my vote. He was against this corporate backed stupid war from the beginning and had the courage of his conviction to say so. Hilary is a waffler who'll say anything to get elected, plus I simply don't like her political stance. None of the Republican candidates have said anything useful or constructive in healing the rift between the U.S. and much of the rest of the world, and I think many would be oh-so-happy to be in the back pockets of the elites who are running my country into the ground with their never-ending wars and bilking of the treasury.

This may all be irrelevant, anyway. Bush and Co. have done so much damage that nothing, including the next President, will stop the coming meltdown of the U.S. economy and the loss of its stature in the world. It would only take a few well timed events and behind the scenes manoeuvers of some key international players to cause this to happen. This is not a threat, just a logical outcome. Arrogance always precedes the fall of empires.