There’s a lot to like about Obama as a candidate for President. The man has gifts; no doubt about it. But the thing that fascinates me most is how hard it is to label him.
He’s neither white nor black.
He’s neither old nor young.
He’s not a southerner or northerner because he grew up in Hawaii.
He’s not too left or too right.
He’s not too Christian, and even has a Muslim name.
He’s not an old school politician or a newcomer.
He’s not handsome in a standard way, yet he’s attractive.
He’s a man, but somehow projects a feminine vibe too.
I predict Obama will win the Democratic nomination. In the general election he will lead in the polls but lose to John McCain because the Republicans will do a better job of rigging the election.
THE MOST HATED PRESIDENT WAS ABRAHAM LINCOLN. Read history!
Posted by: NevinScott | May 04, 2008 at 08:45 PM
Just a few months ago there were many speculative people just like you saying that Obama had no chance in hell. Now Obama draws bigger crowds than rockstars. Hillary was so coinfident in her champaign, until Obama began to speak and made her look like a contradicting fool. It's definitely not about race. Because people in this country has realized that the same form of prejudice is exist in all races. On the subject of Obama being a muslim. How the hell can someone be a muslim and at the same-time a christian. You don't know much about the two, do you? Bush is the most hated president and history and he endorses McCain. McCain share the same dogmatic ideas as Bush. Obama is drawing so many different type people to politics, even youngsters. They don't want to be drafted to war with Iraq. Obama will have the vote of nearly every soldier in the US army, anyone who is in drafting age, over 95 percent of blacks, majority of hispanics, middle-class and poor class folks, and anyone who is ready for change. Rethink your predictions!!!
Posted by: Daniel | February 29, 2008 at 12:05 PM
IT'S VERY SIMPLE, IN MY OPINION, IF BARACK OBAMA WINS THE NOMINATION HE WILL NOT WIN THE GENERAL ELECTION. THIS COUNTRY IS STILL NOT READY FOR A BLACK PRESIDENT, ESPECIALLY AS VAGUE-BACKGROUNDED AND SUSPICIOUSLY MUSLIMGROUNDED AS HE IS WHICH IS THE ONLY REASON HE IS WHERE HE IS RIGHT NOW.
THE WORST THING IS THAT THE REPUBLICANS ARE BETTING ON THIS AND AMERICA'S DEMOCRATS OR THOSE AGAINST ANY MORE REPUBLICAN GOVENMENT ARE ACUTALLY PUTTING THE VOTES ON THE REPUBLICAN SIDE BY CHOOSING BARACK AS A CANDIDATE FOR THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY.
MY HUMBLE OPINION.
Posted by: Nick | February 20, 2008 at 01:16 PM
Obama: Most black Americans are unable to manage their expectations. Their disparate sense of entitlement is as unfocused as it is undeliverable. My prediction is that a President Obama will ultimately be viewed by blacks as a "tool", "sellout", "oreo"....just like every other senior, black establishment politician has been. They much prefer agitators like Al and Jesse who are long on B.S. but do nothing positive for black people in the U.S. We're talking about a people who would vote Marion Berry into office if the opportunity arose. If African-Americans were a stock, I'd short them every time.
Posted by: rondo | February 16, 2008 at 05:22 PM
And the question will become: who is more powerful Oprah, or the republican party. I've seen what she does to my wife. McCain doesn't stand a chance.
http://awritersblock.com
Posted by: John Reedy | February 15, 2008 at 06:27 PM
I am so amazed over Americans' misconceptions of the political left. Obama is not as left-wing as one can be - he is right-wing, McCain is just even more right-wing. Take a look at this map http://www.politicalcompass.org/usprimaries2008 , for yourselves (great site btw, do the test!).
Me, you will find somewhere in the center of the green square - and I'm not even considered a radical over here - along with ~50% of my countrymen.
Final note: the aggregate tax preassure in Sweden is 60%, education and healthcare are free and unemployment benefits and sick pay are still worth the taxes we pay (yes, I pay the higher income tax, so I'm not freeriding in any way), despite our "soft" conservative government doing all they can to ruin it...
Posted by: Lars | February 15, 2008 at 07:06 AM
Not too left? Are you joking? He is the most ultra-liberal Democrat out there!
Posted by: Christine | February 12, 2008 at 03:08 PM
Rather than debating if Scott or other commenters are right or wrong it seems obvious to me that Scott's laser-like focus on Obama is inspirational. Moved by this I have discovered the following observations about Barack.
He's neither hip nor square.
He's not too loud but not too quiet.
His first name doesn't have too many vowels, his last name doesn't have too many consonents.
He's not colloidal nor is he interstitial.
He likes pina coladas AND he likes walks in the rain.
Not only is he not too Christian, he's not too Mormon, not too Zoroastrian and not too Jedi Church.
He's not too country and not too rock 'n roll.
Curiously, he is flammable and inflammable. Hmmm!
In light of all this information, forget voting for Obama for president, let's coronate him. Long live King Barack!
Posted by: Kevin | February 11, 2008 at 10:01 PM
What about CAIR, with saudi's money (see M. Moore 911), promoting Obama's campaign?
What about a fake convert who is infiltrating US gov?
What about a never seen before sum of money collected by Obama through small unidentifiable donors?
Think about it :)
Posted by: qwerty | February 11, 2008 at 03:34 PM
I love the political commentary. Obama '08.
And yes, the Republicans probably will do a better job rigging the election.
Posted by: Adrian | February 10, 2008 at 05:15 PM
I chuckled a little on pubs rigging the
election.
Mcain is going to have a harder time than
you think. The economy is going into a
recession. The pubs, try as they might,
are going to have a hard time blaming it
on the dems.
Posted by: Mark Hessel | February 09, 2008 at 05:42 PM
"Sweden, Norway & Denmark are burned out husks, then? Portugal? Hell, most European countries have socialist policies and they are doing just fine."
Couple things you should know-
Within 15 years, Europe's standard of living will be half of the US's because we grow so much faster (not to mention their 10% unemployment rate).
Most of those countries you mentioned are about the size of Rhode Island and are homogeneous populations. I lived in Denmark and they are the most racist people I've ever met because the Turks and Bosnian's have all flocked there to take advantage of the welfare state.
To see a more stark contrast between freedom and socialism, look at Hong Kong (freest economy in the world) vs. China over the past 50 years. Case closed.
Our country is the world superpower precisely because we DIDN'T follow Europe's path, how could you possibly think we should abandone what has made us great?
Posted by: Deaconblue | February 08, 2008 at 04:53 PM
Scott, that was a very perceptive, accurate portrayal.
Obama just may be the antichrist...ppl are falling all over themselves celebrating him and no one seems to know why.
Frank Luntz, pollster extraordinaire, asked a room full of Obama supporters what his greatest accomplishment was and....nothing, crickets. No one had an answer. But something is going on. He has a cult following but why? How?
Posted by: blah blah | February 08, 2008 at 02:50 PM
Hillary wins in 2008.
This has been clear since 1999 to those who can see the obvious.
Any questions?
Posted by: Rich T. | February 08, 2008 at 02:22 PM
"He's not too left or too right"
Not so...he is rated as more liberal than Senator Kennedy!
Posted by: Jeffrey | February 08, 2008 at 07:44 AM
"(I think) I voted" - Diebold
Posted by: GrainJumper | February 08, 2008 at 05:19 AM
You're hoping we'll forget that you already picked Romney to be the next President, because he has the best hair.
Posted by: Bill Weitze | February 07, 2008 at 07:22 PM
I'm an atheist, and I don't live in the US, but if a muslim becomes president of the USA, I promise to convert to something. Don't know what yet. Especially if he reigns for fourty and two months...
Posted by: Klaas Heitinga | February 07, 2008 at 01:20 PM
I enjoy your belief that when the polls and the election results differ, the election must be rigged.
It's a lot like saying when the forecast and the actual weather differ, someone must have rigged the weather. The only difference is that the weather forecast is not bought and paid for.
Posted by: ShakeAndBake | February 07, 2008 at 11:58 AM
What an incredible display of cognitive dissonance in this discussion. There are enough straw men being hoisted up here for us to grow corn in every county of every state in the Union.
It's a pretty clear example of the fact that we became the dominant species on this planet because we are amazingly tough to kill off completely. It certainly isn't for our intelligence or capacity to do good things.
Posted by: bcammack | February 07, 2008 at 05:58 AM
In response to Pay Attention, there were only 121 voters who chose both Gore and Browne. The 6,607 voters in Palm Beach County are a more likely cause for Bush winning.
Jacksonville:
http://www.sptimes.com/News/111201/Lostvotes/Confusion__inexperien.shtml
Palm Beach County:
http://archives.cnn.com/2001/ALLPOLITICS/03/11/palmbeach.recount/
Posted by: LC | February 07, 2008 at 05:39 AM
Bruce, I consider a 90% income tax rate (or any income tax on anyone making less than $100K/yr for that matter) to BE a failure, no matter what it supposedly accomplishes!
And I don't think these socialistic countries are nearly as effective as people claim. They have their dark side, just like capitalism has its dark side. Catch is, here you just fight companies and stand a 1% chance of winning; there, you fight the government, and have a ZERO percent chance of winning.
As far as "but they enjoy it" -- people don't so much like living with it, as they have so much income taken from them, they have NO CHOICE but to be stuck there.
Posted by: Steve | February 07, 2008 at 05:18 AM
There´s two candidates that could make history if they get elected: An afroamerican, and a woman. Both are brilliant, both have great ideas, both comes with renewed strenghts to lead your country...do you really want to vote MCCain??...he will bring you more of the same crap that Bush Jr. carried with him when he get elected.
America need a change, now
Posted by: Alex | February 07, 2008 at 03:19 AM
Dont really much care for any of the remaining canadites, the ones i wanted to win are already out, either Ron paul or Dennis Kucinich both my not be popular but both had great ideas for turning our country around. Should just burn my house down and take the 100,000 insurance money and go live in mexico for 10 years.
Posted by: Jason | February 06, 2008 at 06:47 PM
I have one criterion for this election. Who would Bin Laden most like to see elected? Who would he least like to see elected? That’s my candidate, so I’m voting for McCain.
I think Osama would prefer Barack Hussein Obama to Billary, not because BO is a Muslim, he’s not, despite the middle name. But he is naive and inexperienced, and people like Osama eat people like Obama for breakfast.
As to rigged elections, here’s the inside story of how the evil Republicans rigged the 2000 election. Neither party talks about it, for reasons that will be clear.
The evil GOP convinced the Democrats to send Jesse Jackson to Jacksonville, FL to register black voters. While there, Jackson ordered all the city’s black voters to vote for two candidates: Gore and Brown. “Vote for Gore and vote for Brown,” he repeated at every stop. (“Brown” being US Rep. Corrine Brown, the black Congresswoman from Jacksonville. You can read about her career and many investigations on Wikipedia. I’m not sure she even had an opponent.)
And on election day, a couple of thousand Jacksonville voters dutifully voted for Gore for President, and then voted for Browne for president, thus spoiling their ballots, and giving Bush his slim victory. (Harry Browne was the libertarian candidate for president.) You can check how many spoiled ballots there were in Jacksonville. So had the Republicans not sent Jackson to Jacksonville to urge black voters to “vote for Brown,” Gore would have been president. Diabolical, huh?
Posted by: pay attention | February 06, 2008 at 06:12 PM