Barak Obama Considering Running For President In 2008

In My Humble Opinion
1

In this MSNBC article, it appears that Barak Obama is considering running for President in 2008.

The article is quite interesting, and there are a few video clips from his appearance on Meet The Press that show his discussing some of his ideas.

Though new to national politics, the man seems to be quite articulate and has some thoughtful ideas.

On the not-so-scientific instant poll, currently 72% of the readers of the article would vote for him. (And yes, I know those polls are skewed to readers who are interested in the article to begin with.)

At any rate, thought this might be interesting for people (in the US and abroad) who are not all that familiar with Obama and might want to see and hear more.

2

I don’t know much about his views, as of yet. I had my heart set on campaigning for Mark Warner (Mark, you broke my heart when you decided not to run for president ::sob:: ). Obama sounds interesting, though, so I’ll have to do some research.

3

I’ve been watching him w/ interest. He’s very articulate, he has charisma and there seems to be substance to his answers, rather than the political platitudes offered by most pols.
I think you might see him as a VP w/ Hillary or Edwards. Unfortunately I suspect that there are a lot of stupid people who won’t vote for him because of his name.

4

Speaking from the Right, IF Obama has any interest in becoming President…

Is it too soon? Would he benefit from more experience in the Senate? Yes and yes, but… in politics, it’s always smarter to make your move too soon than too late. If you sense that there are people who want to vote for you, you’d do well to run NOW, rather than wait and give the people time to forget exactly what they loved about you.

Obviously, I wouldn’t vote for Hillary Clinton and don’t want her to be President. Still, if she had asked for my obsective advice, I’d have told her to run for President 4 years ago. All the assets that make her a strong candidate would have been much more compelling 4 years ago. She could have run on an implied platform of “Remember how much better things were four years ago, when the economy was strong and we were at peace?” Four years later, warm memories of the Clinton years are hazier.

Run too soon, and you risk looking callow. But wait too long, and people start to get tired of you.

So, even though Obama might make a better President if he has more experience under his belt, my hunch is, he’ll never be a stronger CANDIDATE than he is right now.

5

I agree with that. You have to remember that Obama is a Senator, and the longer he’s in the Senate before he runs, the more of a voting record he’ll build that his opponents can use against him. That’s why Senators rarely survive a presidential campaign.

Besides, by positioning himself early as a legitimate candidate, that will give him gravitas that he can use in the Senate if he loses, and he can make another run later on - he’s young enough that he could try for the Presidency four or five times.

I don’t know if I like his politics, but everyone who has met him in public or private says he is an incredibly compelling figure. George Will interviewed him privately, and he said that the experience made him feel what it must have been like to interview a future baseball superstar while he was still a rookie. He just exudes competance and talent. He’d be a formidable candidate, unless the positions he takes are unpalatable to the majority of the country.

I really like the new non-baby boomer generation of politicians on both the right and the left. It’s time the Boomers ceded power to a new generation, and guys like Obama and Harold Ford Jr. seem far more serious and interesting than the old guard.

6

I tend to agree. But if he can extricate himself from machine politics & become a really respectable, independently progressive senator, he might somehow become both. Will it happen?

Well, that’s up to him.

7

I’m going to flip-flop here: I’ve said in the past that he should wait, but having seen some of the coverage he’s received lately, I think he might as well go for it. He seems to have realized that this could be ‘his moment,’ and even if he gets more seasoning, that kind of thing isn’t guaranteed to come again.

8

Dude! So the boomers just get Clinton and Bush and it’s on to Gen X? I’m so there.

Well, at a minimum I’m thinking of running for city council next year. It’s a start.

As for Obama? It’d be hard for him to have a more positive Q rating at any time other than now. If he’s not thinking about it he should as shit should be.

9

Are white people ever referred to as “articulate”? Not trying to be nasty here, just wondering.

10

You may have a point.

I don’t think anybody has ever referred to Dubya as “articulate”.

11

16 years in the White House all told. That’s enough, sez I.

12

I know I sometimes overdo the sports analogies, but here’s a football analogy that sort of explains why I think Obama should run for President in 2008, IF he ever wants the job.

Two years ago, Matt Leinart was a national champion quarterback and a Heisman Trophy winner. At that point, if he’d gone pro, he would definitely have been the #1 draft pick, and would’ve collected a hefty paycheck.

Instead, he decided he needed more seasoning, and came back to play college football for another year. Did he do anything wrong in that extra season? Absolutely nothing! He had a great year, nearly won another Heisman, nearly won another national championship, and looked great.

And yet… he fell waaaay down in the NFL draft!

Why? Because in both football and politics, it’s dangerous to give people too much time to think. If Leinart had come out two years ago, scouts would have made an instinctive judgment, and would have rated him the top man available. But instead, Leinart gave the scouts a whole extra year to think, and re-think, and consider, and re-consider, to spot “flaws” they hadn’t noticed before and to talk themselves out of the sound decision they’d already made.

In the same way, if Obama runs now, millions of people will find him fresh and exciting, a great candidate for the Democratic nomination. But if he waits… well, people will have time to think, to re-think, to spot problems with his candidacy they hadn’t seen before. If he waits, then Hillary may win this year, which means there may not be another chance to run until 2016, by which time Obama won’t be a hot, new, fresh face- just another Senator.

13

I have a question on the “seasoning” thing. At a time when polls seem to show a majority of people are tired of the incumbents in Congress, why should Obama wait?

The growing frustration seems to be that our leaders are guilty of doing the same old corrupt things, regardless of their party affilation. Why not somebody who is reasonably intelligent, but not yet invested in the Governmental status quo? I have not decided if I am for an Obama presidency yet, but I think his inexepereince may help him as a candidate and as a president.

14

Of course they are. Quite often, in fact. There’s absolutely nothing unusual about it.

Google results for john kerry articulate: about 735,000
Google results for bill clinton articulate: about 1,130,000

Makes me wonder why you would ask such an odd question.

As to the subject of the OP, my husband and I love, love, love this guy, and are committed to campaigning long and hard for him if he does decide to run. I think he would ROCK as President!

15

Well, in fairness, we who are sports fans recognize “articulate” as an adjective that’s applied overwhelmingly to black athletes.

You’ll often read that a black football or basketball player is “articulate,” which is often a way of saying “He talks white.” It’s one of those words that’s SUPPOSED to be complimentary, but often comes across as patronizing (the implication is, we’re SHOCKED to find black people who speak standard English fluently).

16

Damn. I hadn’t heard that Warner had decided not to run. I know next to nothing about his politics, but the idea of a popular Southern Democratic governor running for president got me excited.

As for Obama, I don’t think he could be elected because not enough Southern white Republican men would be willing to vote for a black Democrat. A campaign would be outstanding, though, for its potential in forcing the Democrats to, you know, actually campaign. Unfortunately if he runs and Hilary runs I’m afraid we’re going to get a lot of polite yammering from the two of them who, since they won’t win the presidency, will have to go back to work with each other in the Senate.

17

Why wouldn’t he run? After all the media swooning, he’d be crazy not to consider it. In fact, he could be the first presidential candidate elected by the “media primary”.

18

I think he should not run. The citizens of Illinois (which includes myself) elected him to represent us in the Senate and I would prefer he complete at least one term before running off to do something else.

That said, I think he’s super and has the potential to be really great. (Also, when Crazy Alan Keyes said he wasn’t religious enough, he responded with “I want to be Illinois’ senator, not its minister.” HOORAY for politicians don’t think politics should be a contest of who loves god most.)

19

I DOUBT that makes you wonder.

If you’re unaware that calling a black man “articulate” or “well spoken” carries certain connotations with it, then you haven’t been paying attention.

2008 could be crazy. We could be looking at a slate with Obama, Hillary, Kerry, Wesley Clark again, Howard Dean and shit. . .it wouldn’t surprise me if Gore even gave it another shot.

As Frank Rich wrote in the Times yesterday,

20

First of all, not being a sports fan, I had no idea this is some kind of back-handed slur.

I came up with the word “articulate” because it aptly describes Obama. The man carries himself as a highly-educated, well-spoken, and confident speaker - it is obvious he earned his degree at the university on merit, unlike many who skated on daddy’s reputation.

I also used the word articulate as our current President is anything but articulate, and has problems using big words, and prides himself of trivializing any subject when he is not well-versed on the subject. You only need look at the transcripts of his last debacle in Europe with his off-camera comments to Tony Blair.

I think Obama is articulate because he can convey his thoughts, concisely and to the point, in few words, but isn’t afraid to elaborate if asked. In other words, Obama seems to be able to communicate extremely well.

You might not like his political ideas and his party affiliation, but you never feel he is pandering to the stupid and trying to talk like, and be, one of the good ol’ boys…ooops, should I have not said “boys”? Sorry.