I should also add that it speaks of volumes about Obama’s savvy and the effectiveness of his political organization that the name didn’t prove too big a handicap, because his opponents did, and still do, use it as a line of attack.
It doesn’t appear to me though that Barbour has the savvy and appeal that Obama did in '08.
Yeah, the election is next year, and at this point Haley Barbour is scoring Dennis Kucinich or Joe Biden numbers.
IIRC, someone here on the Dope actually called President Obama minutes after he finished his keynote at the 2004 DNC.
Lots of people said Obama would be president (at least some day) after his 2004 speech.
As far as Barbour goes; as a Mississippian, I hate the guy. Of course, I am a liberal Mississippian, if that matters. The government of this state is utter shit, and he is a corrupt asshole to boot. The idea of him as POTUS makes me want to puke. And his accent makes him sound like an idiot, whether he is or not. Sorry, Oakminster, but I’m allowed to say it because I am a Southerner. Some Southern accents are lovely, his ain’t.
I think Diogenes called it fairly early. I think.
Hell yeah, I waved my wife into the TV room mid-speech for exactly that reason: he was going to be President someday. That was an easy call.
Now if someone had told me, “you’re right, he’s going to be President in four and a half years,” I would have told them to get real - no way he’d be getting there that fast. Someday, sure, but not the very next election cycle. That’s crazy talk, man!
Apparently reality didn’t take my opinion on that part very seriously. 
I had the same thought.
For any bets on Obama’s 2012 chances, or for those confident they’ve found a GOP candidate to unseat him, see here: I'll bet Obama gets reelected - Politics & Elections - Straight Dope Message Board
On the other hand, if there is some complicated diplomatic thing, I guess he could come into the room while the Priceline Negotiator song plays.
Yeah, but people here also predicted that Howard Dean would win in '04.
Ooh, is a Chinaman running? I could go for a Chinaman.
[birther]
Why not? We’ve got a Kenyan in the White House right now!
[/birther]
Chinaman is not the preferred nomenclature.
What the fuck you talkin’ about?
He’s not a serious contender, no. he has no crossover appeal to moderates, and he’s not crazy enough for the primary base. He’s also an asshole, and he will read as an asshole if enough light is put on him.
I’ve been predicting since day one that the nominee will be Romney, and I still feel that. If there’s a dark horse, it’s Jeb Bush. I think he could get the nomination, but he hasn’t shown any indication that he’s interested in it. I suspect he’s waiting until 2016 since he’s knows that Obama’s reelection is a forgone conclusion and the Dems don’t have an obvious successor yet.
Asian-American, please.
Saying that ‘he doesn’t have an Asian-American’s chance of getting elected President’ just sounds stupid. Plus Asian-American is much more inclusive than Chinaman and thus is not synonymous.
The guy has more baggage than a 747. He has a confederate flag in his office signed by Jeff Davis? Come on, do you think you can get elected without ANY minority vote? I have to agree that the nomination is Romney’s to lose, and the business suit Republicans aren’t going to let the Teahadists nominate a True Believer only to go down in flames.
Quoth Diogenes:
I agree with you about Romney, but I think that Mitch Daniels is a much more likely dark horse than anyone with the Bush name. Yeah, yeah, he’s not his brother nor his father, but that’s still going to be a huge hill for him to climb.
Did you make up “Teahadists”? I like it!
The Asian-American thing reminds of me of a possibly-apocryphal story that the Boston Globe once had a macro for all of its reporters’ word processors that changed any use of the word “black” to “African-American.” Supposedly, a few weeks later, a headline slipped through that read, “Budget for next fiscal year has state back in the African-American.”