# Barack Obama - future President? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 4, 2004, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-future-president/272917 "2004-11-04T04:08:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-future-president/272917/21 "2004-11-04T12:40:31Z")
There’s a lot to that. I think they should let him sponsor legislation that is sure to pass. Build up some credibility and have some accomplishments to point to. ---
**Author:** ![furlibusea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@furlibusea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furlibusea)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-future-president/272917/22 "2004-11-04T13:06:55Z")
It might also be worth watching [Ken Salazar](http://www.salazarforcolorado.com/) He managed to win in a red state running against a rich frat boy. Not by much, but he won. He also did it without slinging shit. ---
**Author:** ![Belowjob2.0](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Belowjob2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belowjob2.0)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-future-president/272917/23 "2004-11-04T13:20:07Z")
**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.** True up to a point. But Obama is culturally part of the black American community, not by birth but by adoption. He’s married to a black American woman. He’s a member of a traditional black church - one the first people he thanked was his minister. Obama has the backing of Chicago’s black political establishment, and if you listen to his speeches, you can see he’s picked up a fair amount of black American oratorical style. I do have to agree, unfortunately, with your assessment of Obama’s presidential prospects. I doubt the US will have a black president this century. ---
**Author:** ![easy\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/eb8c5e/32.png) [@easy\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/easy_e)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-future-president/272917/24 "2004-11-04T13:39:49Z")
> [@roger thornhill](#): > > 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. I am really sick of the attitude that regards the part of the country that doesn’t touch an ocean as “flyover land.” Just because we don’t live in New York or California doesn’t mean we’re a bunch of ignoramuses. In case you didn’t notice, he was elected Senator of a state in so-called flyover country. And he didn’t just win in Chicago–he took plenty of rural Illinois, including southern Illinois which is damn close to being part of the South. ---
**Author:** ![MMI](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/53a042/32.png) [@MMI](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MMI)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-future-president/272917/25 "2004-11-04T13:53:50Z")
Right now he is a charismatic orator, but with neither much experience or a significant record. In four or eight or twelve years he will have experience, but also a record on national politics. Poison, poison, poison. Kids, if you want to be president, stay local and stay executive - don’t go national until you’re ready for the big time and don’t ever go legislative. ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-future-president/272917/26 "2004-11-04T13:53:52Z")
Can someone give me a quick summary as to Barak Obama won by such a landslide? What has he done to endear himself to so many? ---
**Author:** ![MMI](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/53a042/32.png) [@MMI](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MMI)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-future-president/272917/27 "2004-11-04T13:58:29Z")
He was almost certainly going to win the election anyways. His opponent then ran into marital/divorce related issues wrt his wife (Jeri Ryan/seven of nine) and her depositions with respect to his attraction to sex clubs. He dropped out of the race. The Illinois GOP is apparently already in the middle of something of a meltdown. The only person who could be persuaded to run was Alan Keyes, who is not exactly the strongest of carpetbaggers and who’s views are both extremely conservative and stridently explained so as to alienate most who do not share all of his views. ---
**Author:** ![MMI](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/53a042/32.png) [@MMI](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MMI)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-future-president/272917/28 "2004-11-04T13:59:49Z")
Part II of you question: He gave a pretty spectacular speech at the Democratic Convention. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-future-president/272917/29 "2004-11-04T18:58:47Z")
**Kel** , Your facts are a bit wrong. Obama was already kicking Ryan’s butt when Ryan’s sex scandal broke. But his rise is fast indeed and it is way too early to be thinking presidential. Maybe in '12 or '16. But as to his appeal to Whites … the blatant racists are never gonna vote Democratic. Then there is the rest of us White folk. We are uncomfortable with a Sharpton or a Jackson. Even if we agreed with the message, they are “too Black” for our comfort. We want to vote blind to skin color, but still want to vote for someone who we percieve as “of us” rather than shouting out “other”. We want someone who we admire and who we feel shares ours cultural values and history. Someone who can inspire. Someone who can lead us where we didn’t know we wanted to go until they pointed it out to us and then of course that was where we wanted to be all along. Obama may be a person like that. He is not a “Black Leader” in the preacher tradition. He instead is the classic American success story. A child of humble beginnings, son of an immigrant, succeeding on the basis of superior intellect and hard work. Raised as he was he not only shares much in cultural values with mainstream White America but he can articulate these values in ways that we all understand and identify with. As to his appeal to Blacks … well, my impression has always been that most Blacks have cultural values pretty dang similar to us White folks. Even if self appointed leadership doesn’t always articulte them so well. A man of mixed heritage who has embraced the fact that no matter what he will be called “Black” in this country, and succeeds in this society to the level of a Presidential bid? If he articulates positions they like, they’ll vote for him. Maybe even if they disagree with him on some. The strong place his church plays in his life will also play strong to Blacks in the South. But this election has us having to question if any Northern Democrat can pull it off, even with a strong appeal to Southern Blacks. He is also unashamedly liberal. I think that this is a plus if he has the ability to get the Middle (that has swung hard to the Right in recent years) to see that this is where they really want to go. The pendulum has to swing back some eventually. A man who has a vision to articulate and does so well can take advantage of that moment of turning inertia. Short version. Let’s see what he does in the Senate for a few years and then judge him. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-future-president/272917/30 "2004-11-04T19:39:34Z")
But is America ready for a president born in the Sixties? In Hawaii? And who grew up in Indonesia? Hippie! 😉 On the other hand, maybe he could play up how his mom is a descended from Jefferson Davis. That should help down South. Stereotypical Southern “Colonel”: That boy may be colored but he’s family. We all have some, uh, _peccadillos_ running around. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-future-president/272917/31 "2004-11-04T20:05:26Z")
> [@DanBlather](#): > > 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. Yeah, nominate two Senators, one from the Northeast\*, the othe a one-termer. That’ll surely win the election!! Obama would add absolutely nothing to a Democratic ticket. I won’t even get into the Hillary situation. \*not born there, but she’s there now. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-future-president/272917/32 "2004-11-04T20:05:56Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > But as to his appeal to Whites … the blatant racists are never gonna vote Democratic. Then there is the rest of us White folk. We are uncomfortable with a Sharpton or a Jackson. Even if we agreed with the message, they are “too Black” for our comfort. We want to vote blind to skin color, but still want to vote for someone who we percieve as “of us” rather than shouting out “other”. We want someone who we admire and who we feel shares ours cultural values and history. Someone who can inspire. One rather liberal white Illinois voter (who has no problem with the concept voting for brown people) speaking…I would have a lot less of an issue with a Jackson or a Sharpton if I didn’t feel like they behaved divisively when it suited them. I certainly recognize that sectors of this society have historically been discriminated against (heck, I’m descended from one of them), but sometimes I really feel like those two in particular have a chip on their collective shoulder. I hope to be voting for Obama for higher office, and the sooner, the better. I’ve never seen my friends and family so excited about a political candidate of any color – there is definitely something inspirational about him. I know people who worked with him here in Chicago when he was fresh out of law school, and say he’s the real deal – no skeletons in his closet, and was genuinely decent and inclusive to people, even when he didn’t have to be. For those who don’t understand his appeal, check out his speech to the Democratic Convention, preferably on video (the transcript doesn’t do it justice): [http://www.dems2004.org/site/apps/nl/content3.asp?c=luI2LaPYG&b=125925&ct=158769](http://www.dems2004.org/site/apps/nl/content3.asp?c=luI2LaPYG&b=125925&ct=158769) I’m sure Obama will know better than I do when the moment has arrived for him to step up to the plate. ---
**Author:** ![pizzabrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e9c0ed/32.png) [@pizzabrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pizzabrat)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-future-president/272917/33 "2004-11-04T20:14:07Z")
> [@easy e](#): > > I am really sick of the attitude that regards the part of the country that doesn’t touch an ocean as “flyover land.” Just because we don’t live in New York or California doesn’t mean we’re a bunch of ignoramuses. “Ignoram_i_”, you ignoramus. ---
**Author:** ![NotMrKnowItAll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/6bbea6/32.png) [@NotMrKnowItAll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NotMrKnowItAll)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-future-president/272917/34 "2004-11-04T20:23:14Z")
> [@pizzabrat](#): > > “Ignoram_i_”, you ignoramus. Oh God, my sides… ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-future-president/272917/35 "2004-11-04T20:36:39Z")
My hand --\> :smack: \<-- **pizzabrat** ’s head [Both versions are acceptable.](http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=ignoramus) In the event of a REAL error keeping it to yourself minimize the number of people who want to dopeslap you. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-future-president/272917/36 "2004-11-04T21:26:44Z")
> [@roger thornhill](#): > > Does Barack Obama, etc In the good ol’ days Illinois politics was merely the stuff of legend outside this state and nobody in else in the US knew anything about it except the first Mayor Daley’s machine. Outside the US Chicago was Al Capone and Michael Jordan and the rest of Illinois was completely unknown. Now we have a Brit who lives in Hong Kong asking an informed question about our new senator. I blame CNN. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-future-president/272917/37 "2004-11-05T00:54:47Z")
What **DSeid** said, plus, Obama is darned good-looking. And don’t tell me that doesn’t matter. ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-future-president/272917/38 "2004-11-05T01:11:38Z")
> [@easy e](#): > > I am really sick of the attitude that regards the part of the country that doesn’t touch an ocean as “flyover land.” Just because we don’t live in New York or California doesn’t mean we’re a bunch of ignoramuses. > > In case you didn’t notice, he was elected Senator of a state in so-called flyover country. And he didn’t just win in Chicago–he took plenty of rural Illinois, including southern Illinois which is damn close to being part of the South. Point taken. Maybe “the red part of America” would be a better shorthand. ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-future-president/272917/39 "2004-11-05T01:13:32Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > What **DSeid** said, plus, Obama is darned good-looking. And don’t tell me that doesn’t matter. Helped Clinton, helped Blair, helped Kennedy. ---
**Author:** ![laigle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@laigle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/laigle)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-future-president/272917/40 "2004-11-05T01:21:56Z")
Eh. He gave one good speech, and he looked good in a moderate state compared to an absolute raving lunatic. Even the people who didn’t agree with him voted for him because Keyes scared them shitless. I’m not saying he’s not a good candidate, but it’s a bit early in the game. Let’s see what he does in office, give him a few years of gravitas, and see if he can survive a real challenger. It takes more to become President than being a nice guy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-future-president/272917.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama-future-president/272917.md?page=3)