I don’t see his “mixed-ness” coming into play for most black Americans. Although he hasn’t kept his biracialness secret or tried to downplay his African-ness, he has culturally and politically aligned himself with the African American community (i.e., the descendents of African slaves). He has a black wife and beautiful black daughters. Plus, the man is religious. Not AME, Baptist or Pentacostal, but religious nontheless. That alone probably makes up for any cultural deficits the high-and-mighty perceive in him. Black folks are a lot of things, but–as a group-- atheistic they are not.
I don’t think Jesse is as important to the black politics as people make him out to be. But an endorsement from Reverand Al would be hugely important for Obama. Hell, as much as I love to make fun of Sharpton, even I might be suspicious of Obama if Al isn’t in his corner. And I’d like to consider myself an independent thinker.
I think Hillary would give Obama a run for his money, but ultimately Obama would win. The Dems are not dumb. The 2012 election will be a break-through event…the first time a minority candidate actually has a real shot at getting the big seat (the Repubs will probably put up a minority candidate in response to balance things out…making it guaranteed that a non-white or woman will become president). The Dems will not waste this opportunity on a candidate without the most mass appeal. Hillary could perform miracles that would make Jesus jealous, but she would still be a woman. She would still have those pesky rumors about her sexuality (my mother is a hard-core left winger, but even she believes that Hillary is a lesbian). Her marital problems were blown wide open…many probably blame her for his husband’s infidelities. Whether accurate or not, she is perceived as shrill and abrasive. Plus, dagblammit, she supports this foolish war! I know this Democrat won’t let her forget that.
Unless Obama becomes tarnished by scandals or embarrassments in the next few years, I see him as having the best shot. The conservatives (and even the talk-a-good-game liberals) will feel more comfortable voting for a man, even if he isn’t white. He’s physically attractive…Hillary is not. He is from Middle America…Hillary is not. He’s moderately liberal…Hillary is seen as being far-left (even though she isn’t). He’s religiously devout…Hillary doesn’t appear to be of any religious persuasion. He’s a family man with young children and a wife who isn’t stealing the mike from him. Many will feel that Hillary already served two terms in the Whitehouse. The strikes against Hillary outweight those by Obama. She might have a chance against another opponent, but not Obama.
I heard him on the talk show circuit the other night. Interesting. He certainly isn’t running from association with Jackson, acknowledging their personal freindship and of their families. So he clearly understands the need to resonate with voters like you Monstro. But he doesn’t bring him up either, unless asked. I think Sharpton would be someone asked to keep his support present but muted though. Is he capable of endorsing quietly? And it is interesting how he plays on his mother’s history: emphasizing that she was a liberal secular humanist and that he learned all his values from her, values that he now finds resonance for in his traditional Black church.
He is the right message for this time. America has had it with the politics of division. America wants to find and emphasize the core and positive values that we can and do mainly agree on. Black, White, deeply religious or secular humanist; we can respect the fact that we have differences and yet not polarize ourselves by painting each other as caricatures. Not all of faith want to shove their faith down the throats of everyone else, and secular values are amazingly similar to those of many who are deeply faithful. The religious can see in him a religious man of deep personal faith. The secular humanists see in him a man who is at his core a result of his secular humanist rearing and who understands that his faith may be important and can be public, but is his and not the State’s faith. Black Americans accept him as one of their own while Whites are, in you with the face’s parlance, “not threatened” by him as he is not of urban Black subculture or Southern roots and carries none of that baggage. His family story resonates with many White family histories and dreams.
He’s talking like he’s going to run. And woe to the Democrat stupid enough to try to go negative on him in the primary campaign.
HRC is still such a lightning rod for right-wing hate, and her personal history with her relationship to WJC such endless fodder for prurient bickering and howling, there’s just no way I could get behind her as a candidate, regardless of how unfair it is that she has such liabilities. I actually have disagreed with her stance on some issues pretty strongly, and that might also have been a negative worthy of consideration, but problems that should be completely irrelevant unfortunately very much are. She is, by default, a stark divider, the antithesis of a uniter. She can’t help it; she’s Hillary. A HRC bid for presidency will be such a squalid chapter of American electoral politics I cannot stomach the thought of it. I’m sorry, Hillary, but you just aren’t electable. I’m not sure if Obama is either, but at least there is uncertainty in his case.
I absolutely love this man. I’d not only vote for him, I’d campaign for him. Hard.
I only hope that if he does run, and doesn’t win, that he doesn’t take the defeat so hard that it keeps him from trying again next time, like what happened to Al Gore. I really, really want Barack Obama as my President, I don’t care how long I have to wait for it to happen.
Really? I’d think of those things as reasons to vote *for * her, if only to demonstrate that the fundie right’s hate tactics cannot be accepted. If you’re looking for a “threat to the Republic”, there’s one right there.
Obama would have to get the “Hussein / Osama” stuff out of the way early, on his own initiative, just to inoculate himself against that shit, which would of course be used.
Shayna, Gore has refused to rule out running in 2008. Just FTR.
If it ends up with her being the candidate, she’ll probably get my vote, as I just can’t imagine the Republicans nominating a better alternative. My guess is she’d lose the general election, probably by a bigger margin than Kerry lost to Bush, though I doubt it would be a landslide for her opponent.
For the primaries, though? No way I’m voting for HRC unless the alternatives are a joke. Obama’s no joke.
Maybe. I only watched about half of it yesterday (will finish sometime today) and I’m starting to see what the hype is all about. He reminds me a lot of pre-Iraq War Colin Powell-- and not because of their race. He’s obviously very intelligent and very deliberative, but you don’t get any of that shifty-eyed posturing you get from almost every other politician. Feingold is kind of like that, too, and there are a few Republicans that come to mind, but he’s a rare bird in politics, that’s for sure! I’m looking forward to seeing the rest of that interview.
I’m afraid you’re right about that. Not, I think, because the general population is so backward as to reject those candidates out of hand, but rather because recent elections have been won and lost on a whisker, and it would only take a few fencesitters to deny them their vote because of their race or gender. When I’ve heard Obama speak, I have liked what he has to say. I feel sure that he would definitely edge out Hillary Clinton, but he would still lose the general election.
In my opinion it’s too soon for both of them, as first term senators, to even be thinking about this. Besides, I think Obama could really serve the country better by staying in the Senate and rising through the ranks. Hillary too, probably, but I’m not so sure.
I’m a libertarian/Republican. If Obama were to run against a generic Repubican I might sit it out, Maybe vote Republican.
If HRC runs on the exact same platform against the same generic I donate lots of time and money to the Republicans.
I hate that woman. Started with her “vast right wing conspiracy” charge. At the time I was a registered Dem and was cheering for Ken Starr to get rid of Bubba - nothing political about it at all. Just had a problem with him obstructing justice. I started to hate her then and I haven’t stopped yet.
BTW, when I say I hate her I mean only when I think about her, which is about a few minutes a year. So don’t worry about me…that’s not nearly enough time to negatively impact my health or happiness…But if she becomes POTUS…
Kindof the problem I se here is that Obama is sucah the flavor of the month that he hasn’t gone under the overwhelmeing scrutiny and dirty tactics that starts to wear away from the veneer. I like Obama, but I am also wary of how “hot” he is right now. He is geting the kid glove treatment to a large degree. I am pretty sure we know what kind of person HRC is, or at least whe the public perception is. With Obama, he is just too fresh at this level to know how he would do when the lovefest ends and more scrutiny and more dirty tricks are thrown at him on the national stage.
My money would be on Obama. Hillary rubs a lot of folks, not just right-wingers, the wrong way. From the little I know of Obama, the guy seems not only intelligent, but also charismatic and just plain likeable.
Only time will tell, of course, but I think you’re wrong in that assessment. I think he’s fully aware that he’ll be put through the ringer and if he decided to run, it would be with full preparation in anticipation of same. From the “Meet the Press” interview I linked to above:
If the current trend of political disillusionment continues, then Obama is very attractive as an “outsider”, one who is not yet overly connected and tainted by the Old Boy’s networks. The current administration has me thinking it may not matter whether a president has lots of experience in this or that, since his/her choice of advisors is so critical to the job. It may matter more that he is a clear, critical thinker with good judgment. What appeals to me about Obama is his obvious intelligence, lucidity, directness, rational optimism, and apparent honesty. With our government sliding so far from our original American political ideals, he also seems to embody many of the qualities of the self-made man, and has a grass-roots background.
Of course he is yet to be tested — he hasn’t even had a honeymoon period yet! But I don’t see him doing a Deanean “YEEEHAW!” anyway. And he’s got that Clintonian ability to communicate complexity clearly, just like it was obvious to us all all the time. We’ll see what happens I guess.
And it is interesting how he plays on his mother’s history: emphasizing that she was a liberal secular humanist and that he learned all his values from her, values that he now finds resonance for in his traditional Black church.