Obama

yield2me
yield2me Posts: 1,291
edited December 2006 in A Moving Train
I'm going to be honest here...I don't really know much about Obama except that everyone is hailing him to be the greatest thing to happen since sliced bread...it seems like this guy hasn't much time to really prove himself yet, so why all the love?
“May you live to be 100 and may the last voice you hear be mine.” - Frank Sinatra
Post edited by Unknown User on
«13

Comments

  • qtegirl
    qtegirl Posts: 321
    One reason could be that he's very charismatic. Also, there's his book, that everyone seems to like. And, he's the first black senator since reconstruction. There's a lot of media buzz around him.
  • cincybearcat
    cincybearcat Posts: 16,880
    yield2me wrote:
    I'm going to be honest here...I don't really know much about Obama except that everyone is hailing him to be the greatest thing to happen since sliced bread...it seems like this guy hasn't much time to really prove himself yet, so why all the love?


    He's the great black hope, dontcha know?

    Honestly, he is very charismatic, smart, and seems to have a vision. All good characteristics of a good leader.

    But I'm with you...I htink people need to see more before annointing him to the god-like status that they have. I also do believe that if he were white, there wouldn't be so much hype.
    hippiemom = goodness
  • floyd1975
    floyd1975 Posts: 1,350
    Was sliced bread really all that cool?
  • floyd1975
    floyd1975 Posts: 1,350
    qtegirl wrote:
    One reason could be that he's very charismatic. Also, there's his book, that everyone seems to like. And, he's the first black senator since reconstruction. There's a lot of media buzz around him.

    Reconstruction happened since the days of Carol Mosely Braun?
  • RainDog
    RainDog Posts: 1,824
    cincybearcat wrote:
    I also do believe that if he were white, there wouldn't be so much hype.
    Correction. If he were white, his name would be John Edwards. ;)

    In all seriousness, Edwards was pretty hyped, too - still is in some quarters. And, if you ask me, Obama is more charismatic than Edwards, regardless of what his ethnicity is.
  • cincybearcat
    cincybearcat Posts: 16,880
    RainDog wrote:
    Correction. If he were white, his name would be John Edwards. ;)

    In all seriousness, Edwards was pretty hyped, too - still is in some quarters.

    Not near the hype Obama gets...the only problem I have is the fact that I disagree with a lot of what Obama says we need to do...but that probably makes me a racist if I don't vote for him, huh?
    hippiemom = goodness
  • qtegirl
    qtegirl Posts: 321
    zstillings wrote:
    Reconstruction happened since the days of Carol Mosely Braun?
    You know what, I admit I am wrong. I just looked it up. I could've sworn though, that I heard that somewhere. Anyway, I guess he's the third :)
  • qtegirl
    qtegirl Posts: 321
    But he is the only black senator right now.
  • RainDog
    RainDog Posts: 1,824
    cincybearcat wrote:
    Not near the hype Obama gets...the only problem I have is the fact that I disagree with a lot of what Obama says we need to do...but that probably makes me a racist if I don't vote for him, huh?
    Not racist, per se. But now that the Democrats are the majority, if you don't vote for him (or whoever their nominee ends up being), you're unpatriotic.
  • Abuskedti
    Abuskedti Posts: 1,917
    RainDog wrote:
    Not racist, per se. But now that the Democrats are the majority, if you don't vote for him (or whoever their nominee ends up being), you're unpatriotic.

    True that
  • surferdude
    surferdude Posts: 2,057
    RainDog wrote:
    But now that the Democrats are the majority, if you don't vote for him (or whoever their nominee ends up being), you're unpatriotic.
    Wait I thought that the one time every two years you could show dissent but still be patriotic was on voting day. After that it made you unpatriotic.
    “One good thing about music,
    when it hits you, you feel to pain.
    So brutalize me with music.”
    ~ Bob Marley
  • yield2me
    yield2me Posts: 1,291
    This is what I thought. All that any of you are talking about is the fact that he is black and that he is charismatic...ok...well there still is the question, does this guy have what it takes to run the most powerful country in the world? If so, then why? I don't have an answer to this, I'm just curious.
    “May you live to be 100 and may the last voice you hear be mine.” - Frank Sinatra
  • macgyver06
    macgyver06 Posts: 2,500
    yield2me wrote:
    I'm going to be honest here...I don't really know much about Obama except that everyone is hailing him to be the greatest thing to happen since sliced bread...it seems like this guy hasn't much time to really prove himself yet, so why all the love?

    hmm... this is a hype post! you list nothing of his politics...posts like these add to the hype...duhhh
  • yield2me
    yield2me Posts: 1,291
    macgyver06 wrote:
    hmm... this is a hype post! you list nothing of his politics...posts like these add to the hype...duhhh


    I don't list anything about his politics because I don't know anything about his politics...thats what I'm asking you guys about? Why does everyone say he is so great???

    I'm not really sure what a "hype post" is, but I'm not pushing any kind of agenda here, just trying to have a discussion.
    “May you live to be 100 and may the last voice you hear be mine.” - Frank Sinatra
  • cincybearcat
    cincybearcat Posts: 16,880
    yield2me wrote:
    does this guy have what it takes to run the most powerful country in the world? If so, then why? I don't have an answer to this, I'm just curious.


    No one has that answer. As you said, he's done very little so far.
    hippiemom = goodness
  • RainDog
    RainDog Posts: 1,824
    yield2me wrote:
    This is what I thought. All that any of you are talking about is the fact that he is black and that he is charismatic...ok...well there still is the question, does this guy have what it takes to run the most powerful country in the world? If so, then why? I don't have an answer to this, I'm just curious.
    "What it takes" is kind of difficult to determine, as there's no real job or even political experience that's comparable to being President of the United States.

    However, he's got personality, a political outlook, and the ability to get large numbers of people behind him. He's also a natural born citizen over the age of 35. So, yeah, he has "what" it takes - whether or not that "what" is what America wants, or a "what" that will ultimately work if he gets the office remains to be seen, just as with anyone else.
  • yield2me
    yield2me Posts: 1,291
    RainDog wrote:
    "What it takes" is kind of difficult to determine, as there's no real job or even political experience that's comparable to being President of the United States.

    However, he's got personality, a political outlook, and the ability to get large numbers of people behind him. He's also a natural born citizen over the age of 35. So, yeah, he has "what" it takes - whether or not that "what" is what America wants, or a "what" that will ultimately work if he gets the office remains to be seen, just as with anyone else.

    Well he meets the qualifications to run for office, but thats not what I'm getting at. I don't know...it just seems that everyone is really jumping the gun on this guy, because he hasn't really done anything yet, at least that I've seen.
    “May you live to be 100 and may the last voice you hear be mine.” - Frank Sinatra
  • RainDog
    RainDog Posts: 1,824
    yield2me wrote:
    Well he meets the qualifications to run for office, but thats not what I'm getting at. I don't know...it just seems that everyone is really jumping the gun on this guy, because he hasn't really done anything yet, at least that I've seen.
    Politically, he sits somewhere around where this site puts him - and it gives a few details on what he's done:
    http://www.issues2000.org/Senate/Barack_Obama.htm

    There's also a bit of a catch 22 in politics right now. People often say they want a president or other politician that isn't some long-time political insider; but, when someone who doesn't fit the political insider mold runs, he or she is labeled as "inexperienced."

    Really, despite many attempts to make things seem more complicated than they are, democracy is always as simple as "if you like a candidate, vote for him/her. If you don't, don't." The requirements for that vote are up to you.
  • musicismylife78
    musicismylife78 Posts: 6,116
    He isnt liberal at all. He isnt for pullout of troops, he was and I think still is for war in Iran and North Korea.

    Although it would be great to get our first black president, Obama isnt it. He is mealy mouthed and a crappy candidate just like Gore and Kerry.

    About Iraq. Obama said "we can still win, we just need a change of direction, but we can still win"

    How is that different than Bush?

    I refuse to be bought off by this cult of personality hype around Obama. He sounds like an OK guy, but politically, we dont need middle of the road people. And we dont need people who are going to "run the war differently". The war is lost, and running it under a dem isnt going to change a damn thing.

    As I said before, people are outraged about Bush calling for an escalation of the Iraq war, well what the hell do you think us Nader voters were saying in 2004 when we said "both parties are the same". Kerry wanted an escalation as well.

    The 2006 midterms were a referendum on the war, and a mandate by the american people to stop this war and the killing, not to run it differently, but to end it completely

    Wake up obama!!!
  • Milhouse VanHouten
    Milhouse VanHouten Posts: 755
    RainDog wrote:
    There's also a bit of a catch 22 in politics right now. People often say they want a president or other politician that isn't some long-time political insider; but, when someone who doesn't fit the political insider mold runs, he or she is labeled as "inexperienced."

    Very true. In addition to that, if he spent two or three terms in the Senate before running, his opponent would use his voting record against him just like the GOP did with Kerry in 2004: "His voting record proves he's the most liberal Senator in the country!!".

    Of course, that whole arguement is basically bullshit. Candidate Bush constantly reminded voters that he wasn't a Washington insider, that he wasn't a slave to the Beltway machine... etc. Of course, that wasn't really true, and even if it was, what difference did it make? He's still painfully incompetent.
    "Of course it hurts. You're getting fucked by an elephant."

Categories