His numbers have risen sharply among women and Democrats as a whole, and against McCain. This is the text of his speech today in Raleigh. Here’s a portion on the video.
Barack Obama is going to chew McCain up and spit him out. His initiatives are bold. Stunning. And economically sound. If John McCain has any hope of being elected, I’d like to hear what it might be other than blocs of bigots and idiots, which of course does not include any Dopers all of whom are tolerant and smart.
Does he write his own speeches?
They look like standard Democratic boilerplate to me. Close tax loopholes for corporations and a windfall profits tax. I’m all for the former, but the latter is hardly “economically sound”. And he’s got a nice little hand-out thrown in for “seniors”-- a demographic that he just coincidentally does very poorly with in the polls. Bleh.
The more I see of Obama the candidate, the less I like him. I’m still more for Obama than McCain, but if he’s got a lot more of this kind of stuff coming out, I might be pushed the other way.
Damn it Lib I was just going to post that! Finally, finally, finally Obama can talk issues. This is where he does very well, this is what he was waiting for.
Oh and incidentally, I predicted this a month ago, I’ll try and dig up the post when I get back. I knew his numbers were going to skyrocket! We haven’t seen anything yet. Anybody see Obama and Jim Webb a few days ago??? Interesting.
Sometimes.
Why do they always show these national polls which are largely irrelevant in our electoral system. I want to see a state by state poll and how that feeds into an electoral tally. Which states are solid for one or the other candidate and which are in play?
I see a lot of mention of Bush there, and tying McCain to Bush on the economy. Seems like a good tack.
I refuse to allow myself to get excited (or upset) by polls at this stage. Twixt now and November the candidates are going to seesaw 20 times, moreso this race than most I think.
Watching his speech in NC this morning the biggest reaction was to McCain’s tax cuts giving a $1.2 billion break to Exxon when they just posted the highest profits of any quarter in many years (if not ever) when gas prices are so insane. I hope he plays that one more in the future.
It’s your nose, do as you please. 
But I’m not sure you looked at his speech, partly because of how you characterized it and partly because you did not mention that it is a two-part plan — one part for short-term economic stimulation, and the other part for long-term economic solutions. You did not mention, for example, his plan to do a second round of tax rebates immediately. (It turns out that Bush stole the idea for tax rebates from Obama, who proposed them in January.)
It really sounds to me, despite what you say, that you’ve already made up your mind. But if you haven’t, I encourage you to take a look. I realize it’s a bit long, but there’s a lot more meat in it than you’ve described.
That one got an audible gasp and moan from the audience. It was like a collective “Are you fucking kidding me!?”
Oh, and to actually come out and say of McCain
is just genius. Hit them before they hit you.
He has amazing managerial skills, not just in terms of personnel but in terms of events and timing. In Raleigh, he came out looking like a fiscal conservative, especially compared to Bush and McCain. He said that he’s a believer in pay-as-you-go (which is what our family does), and his plan includes a way to pay for the particulars while lowering taxes on the vast majority of the middle class. I’ve said before that he reminds me of a cross between Reagan and Kennedy. It’s just a matter of joyous serendipity that Hayek is blended in there as well.
I’ve only skimmed the speech so far, but it looks like standard Dem boiler plate to me to. The first page could have come out of the Dem election play book for political speeches for the past 20 or so years…things are desperate, prices are high, unemployment is rising, ask the man in Pennsylvania or this woman in Wisconsin, etc etc.
Just based on what you posted here…I think the short term economic stimulus plan is a waste (the one that Bush is doing is a waste and anything further will just be more of a waste), tax rebates are a waste…and I’d have to see details on his long term economic stimulus plan to see if it’s a waste to (I’m not very sanguine at this point). Granted, I haven’t read through the whole speech yet, and there is nothing on FactChecker about it…but it just seems like the same ole same ole we’ve been hearing from the Dems for decades now. The only think new and exciting about it is the man trotting out the same tired concepts and phrases.
I really hope you are right Lib and this IS something new. I fear that it’s just a bright and shiny new (articulate) package for the same tired, worn out message. I will concede one thing though…better Obama than McCain.
-XT
For those who don’t care to read Obama’s whole 5-page speech linked in the OP, is a summary of his economic plan available anywhere?
As mentioned he sometimes does. Obama’s speechwriter is a 26 year old of all things! Not saying he is not good…he’d have to be but still!
Obama wrote his own speech for the 2004 DNC convention. Obama largely wrote his speech on race back in March. Supposedly his speech writer after reading it quipped, well, I forget what he quipped but was reportedly blown away but what his boss had written. They collaborated on editing and such but mostly that was all Obama.
But Obama is a busy guy so his speechwriter is kept busy just the same.
I’m not a pollster but I always felt that the national opinion polls by Gallup, Rasmussen, etc are basically advertising for the firms. If you want a state-by-state poll, someone’s gotta pony up. Until someone actually pays for a new poll of Indiana, one won’t be soon forthcoming.
I believe it is. And I’m really surprised to be hearing a couple of you call it boilerplate Democrat. I think it’s boilerplate Republican, straight out of Goldwater before they morphed into their unrecognizable contemporary form. At the very least, it certainly hasn’t been framed by Democrats the way he is framing it. Maybe hearing is different from reading, but what comes out of this speech is that he is the tax cutting candidate. That’s amazing. He’s cutting taxes on 95% of the middle class (as defined by USCB) by $1,000. That’s a tax credit, not a deduction. That means somewhere around $1,600 net cash for a family of four, enough to make a difference. But he’s also cutting taxes on all seniors (again, as defined by USCB) who make $65,000 or less … by 100% on that amount. And with respect to the second round stimulus, it is important because people need relief right now. They can’t afford to buy the gas to go job hunting. (He also plans an immediate long-term extension of unemployment benefits.) Tax cuts and tax rebates are not boilerplate Democrat.
FYI, electoral-vote.com, which does a state-by-state electoral vote count (the only metric that counts, and not the useless nationwide polls we usually see), based on state-by-state polls, has Obama vs McCain currently at
Obama 287 McCain 227 Ties 24
Also, in more detail:
Strong Dem (190)
Weak Dem (54)
Barely Dem (43)
Exactly tied (24)
Barely GOP (25)
Weak GOP (83)
Strong GOP (119)
Is there a debate here, or is this just fanboy stuff?
Come to think of it, this is the forum for witnessing. 
Well, I did put a debate challenge in the OP: “If John McCain has any hope of being elected, I’d like to hear what it might be…”.