Does Barack Obama, newly elected Senator for Illinois, represent the future for the Democratic Party? Charismatic and a brilliant public speaker, could he succeed where Gore and Kerry failed in firing the imagination of swing voters in the States?
I would say it is too early to tell. Remmber Obama wasn’t even going to get the nomination until scandal broke for Hull. His rise has been really fast.
Barack Obama is a . . . well . . . you know.
The first black president, if we ever have one, will have a lot more in common with Colin Powell than with Barack Obama, let alone Al Sharpton. More’s the pity.
Obama has already been beatified by the Democrats. He’s a very bright academic but that’s about all he is. He has flip-flopped on his own race when it has suited him and he hasn’t actually done anythng of note to deserve these kinds of accolades. Basically, he’s loved because he is a half-black/half-white man with some intellect.
I disagree that it has that much to do with his race. I think people like him so much because he is relatively clean. He is young and a great speaker and does not have much real baggage. Now we have to see how he handles being a leader. There is going to be a lot of pressure on the guy to step to the front of party. If he wants to be President he will have to resist the urge to take strong positions on a lot of issues. However, at the same time he has to not look like he is ducking issues. This is the problem with coming out of the Congress (Senate or the House). He needs to be able to present a clear record if he wants to be President and being a Senator will hurt Obama.
What examples re you thinking of?
And does the fact he’s hero-worshipped matter? It didn’t seem to harm either Reagan or Schwarzenneger. Or Clinton, for that matter.
Are you suggesting the fact that his mother is white could be used to his advantage, so that his appeal is to both white and black communities?
I could see Obama coming in as a VP candidate in '08. He’ll play a good John Edwards - the charisma of the group, the spokesman. But by the '08 election, he won’t have the political experience to convince the voters he should be running the country. Perhaps after four to eight years of being Vice President, but not before then.
On a personal note, I’d love to the Democratic party’s most energizing and unifying spokesman since Clinton leading the party.
Kel Varnsen - Latex Division said
You know, I think you are wrong. I think that has been the problem for the Democrats. We keep running these bland wishy washy white guys that are so afraid to offend or make a wrong step there just isn’t anything there. We did it with Dukakis and Mondale and Dole, and Kerry. Gephart would have just been another one. The only one who broke the mold was Clinton, and he suprised the hell out of the party.
I think thats one of the things that leaves me suprised about how much some people despised Kerry because i couldn’t ever see there was enough there to hate. I am sitting here today absolutely devistated by the results of the election, but I was never really excited by Kerry. Its time we need to stop being so afraid of loosing and start concentrating on winning.
Well, think about that. Barack Obama is not “African-American” in the usual sense of the term. I mean, of course he’s an American of African extraction – his father was a Kenyan. But none of his ancestors were slaves in America. There is an “African-American culture” which is unique in the world – it is unlike all African cultures and it is unlike all African-derived cultures in Latin America and the Caribbean. It has unique characteristics. It is the culture that gave the world gospel, soul, jazz, rythm-and-blues, rock-and-roll, hip-hop, and rap – but not reggae (a Jamaican musical style). It is the culture that gave the world the Harlem Renaissance, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Maya Angelou, Halle Berry and Denzel Washington – but not Sidney Poitier (a Bahamian). It is the culture that gave the world Alan Keyes – but not Barack Obama. He’s something different, and his political appeal to the “African-American community” will be very different from that of Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, or Colin Powell.
Obama has too little experience now to be President material.
However, once he’s gotten experience, he will also have a senatorial voting record, which opponents can pick apart. The presidential race hasn’t been very kind to Senators the past couple rounds when they ran.
It’s just too soon to say.
For Dole read Gore?
Yea read Gore, sorry. was late night and migrane slipped in so kinda stupid today.
I think you misunderstood me, perhaps because I wasn’t clear. He needs to take a strong position. However he needs to limit it to a small number of related issues. The Democrats need a strong clear message. You can’t have clarity if you are taking a position on too many issues.
So, BG, are you saying that it’s the worst of both worlds for Obama, in the long run? Unrepresentative of and resented by the African-Americans, and unappealing, to put it mildly, to flyover folks.
No, he can likely keep his Senate seat indefinitely. I’m just saying he’s not a good presidential prospect.
I think a Hillary Clinton/Barak Obama ticket would be a sure winner. Unlike Kerry, HC has been a super-hawk all the way. I’d pay money to watch either of them speak. I think Obama would need to be VP because of his relative age and inexperience.
But Colin Powell is the son of Jamaican immigrants. If he can still appeal to African-Americans, I don’t see why Barack Obama can’t.
Obama is truly a gifted speaker. I put him in the Martin Luther King class. His problem is not his race, since the Dems don’t draw a lot of support from racists anyway. His problem is he is going to the Senate. He is going to cast votes. Every time he votes on an appropriation bill, it is going to be counted as a vote to raise taxes. I think he could add a lot to the ticket in the VP spot, then after 8 years as vice president he would be a shoo in for the White House. Richardson-Obama in 2008 and 2012. Obama in 2016 and 2020.
The name of the game is now populism… its not issues or experience as much.
If Obama can play with people’s emotions and stir them up he can win. I agree that he would best be served as a VP.
Assuming the Dems have gotten their act together, they likely have informed Obama that he has a bigger future in politics. They’ll probably force him to be there as much as humanly possible and to take action on issues Dems will see as important in '08 or '12. Likely, if there’s another “$87 Billion Question” again, the DNC will raise a stink so people know and remember that Obama voted it down because of this, not because of that.
I think they’ll be watching Obama like a hawk for a little while to make sure he doesn’t screw anything up.