The guy’s doomed just because of his name. When I saw this thread, I thought it was a typo of “Osama for President”
Next you’ll be telling me Al Gore wrote Earth in the Balance. All political speeches are collaborations between ghost writers & the presenter. W/the exception of Clinton’s, all speeches also got “edited” (read: rewritten) by McAuliffe’s staff. It won’t be any different in NYC.
Huh? I was, what, the 14th poster in this thread. I don’t think he gave a bad speech, I was just pointing out that the overwhelming number of people who posted before me, a large majority made ‘presidential’ comments ith knowing very little about him. Maybe my knee condition caused me to misread the following:
Kalhoun: “I think he’s great. I’d like to see him go for it in 2012 or 2016. I really think he’d have a chance, too”.
In a presidential run or in the Olympics?
choie: “God willing – a future presidential candidate”.
I thought we were supposed to be taking God out of politics
Eva Luna: “Hell, I could get excited about voting for him, and the last person I could have gotten excited about voting for was Jimmy Cater…Obama kicked butt tonight. I could totally see him in the White House someday”.
As a chef?
Knorf: "…As my friend Tim put it, “he obviously asserted himself as a national political leader, primarily on the basis of his ability to transcend politics through his ideas.”
kunilou: “…Keep an eye on this guy. If he can have that kind of effect on my daughter, he’s going places”.
yellowval: “…I’m way more excited about him than I am about Kerry or Edwards…”
DMark: “I would not at all be surprised to see his name mentioned for a future run at the office of President!”
With the exception of a couple wise cracks and an assination prediction, the tone here sounded hauntingly familiar to when Gov. Cuomo (as lousy executive - but at least with a record and experience) floored them.
Obama and the DNC have said that Obama wrote the speech himself. Clinton also wrote quite a bit of material himself. It’s not THAT unusual. Unless you have a cite that Obama lying about writing his own speech then I would ask that you quit making baseless assertions.
What was the SDMB’s tone in 1984? 
Listen, last night was Obama’s first moment on the national stage, and that’s the long and the short of it. He did a good job, and despite what you say, it seems he wrote his own speech.
As far as the Obama/Osama thing… people here (IL) already tried it. Obviously it didn’t hurt him. I have trouble imagining it will cost him votes in eight or twelve or sixteen years.
Ummmm, the guy has shown every indication of having the ability to write his own speeches. He teaches Constitutional law at the U. of C., for chrissakes - you don’t think he’s capable of stringing together an effective sentence?
Everything he has achieved has been on his own. Does that not count for anything?
(BTW, I made no predictions about Cuomo; I paid pretty much zero attention to him. I guess only time and experience will tell, but things are definitely looking up for one particular Illinois state Senator.)
He’s inspirational. I’m interested. One freakin’ heck of a speaker.
But I’m not going to vote for sound bites. His documented stance on all major issues if you please. My fingers are crossed but I want facts.
Air America Radio reported last night that someone had an Obama button on in the White House and Bush, who was meeting the person, jumped back shocked because he thought it was Osama.
Then again it was from AAR, so I have no clue how valid that claim is.
Best place for that is here, I think. He’s been an excellent state senator so far, as far as I’ve seen. When the primaries were coming up, I checked the papers and other sources for interviews of candidates on their positions, and Obama was my choice, without question.
The Obama/Osama thing hasn’t hurt him in the state of Illinois, at least. He was well ahead of Ryan* in polls even before the whole scandal broke.
Even after Ryan withdrew from the race, Obama has still been campaigning up and down the state vigorously. Reporters following his campaign have noted that he’ll be out talking with citizens until 10 pm and still get up at 5 am to jog before his next round of meeting with people. His statement on the local news after his speech was that he would be heading back to Illinois to pack up the family in a RV and hit the county fairs to meet more people.
I just hope people don’t expect him to walk on water, then turn against him when they find out he can’t work miracles as one member of the US Senate. He’s the first candidate I’ve been eager about in a long time, and I don’t want to see him become a victim of over-inflated expectations.
- Extra fun fact: Jack Ryan has still not filled out the short form that formally requests his name be taken off the fall ballot, even though it’s been at least a month since he said he was dropping out of the race, and a newspaper reporter managed to fill out the same form in 45 seconds. It was reported in the Chicago Tribune today that the Illinois Republican party leadership is calling a special meeting next week to talk about replacement candidates, and possibly come up with ways to pressure Ryan to give it up already.