# What do you recall about President Obama’s ascent to the White House? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [July 13, 2022, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-recall-about-president-obama-s-ascent-to-the-white-house/967873 "2022-07-13T12:53:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 16
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2022, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-recall-about-president-obama-s-ascent-to-the-white-house/967873/16 "2022-07-13T15:51:01Z")
I don’t remember when I first became aware of Obama, or what I thought of him or his chances at the time. But I do remember that he formally announced his candidacy in Springfield (IL), and since I lived there at the time, I went downtown to see it. This thread has inspired me to look up some old threads from well before the 2008 election, to see what the SDMB thought of him at the time. I’ll link to a couple of them here, in case anyone’s interested, but there are a lot more of the same. Looks like he had a lot of supporters here, but also a lot of doubters who thought America wouldn’t elect someone so inexperienced and/or so Black. Response to the DNC speech in 2004: > [@Barack Obama](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barack-obama/257207): > > Was that speech something, or what? You think Clinton was good last night, you shoulda heard this kid. I think we were just watching the ~46th President of the United States. Wow. Anybody got a transcript yet? Here’s a quote ganked from Atrios: Who the hell was Vilsack? > [@Dems: Clinton, Obama, Edwards Or Vilsack?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dems-clinton-obama-edwards-or-vilsack/385431): > > Those are the front runners at this point, although only Vilsack has officially announced - look to see the others announce their candidacy after New Year’s day. Me - well, I want someone who can win. My choices, so far, in order of those mentioned: Obama Clinton Edwards and forget about it, but glad you are in the game to rile things up, Vilsack. Prediction: Obama will win because of Bush: > [@Bush's one great gift to us: Obama.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bushs-one-great-gift-to-us-obama/418543): > > I think Obama has a very, very serious shot at winning the presidency, and if he does, I think we can thank George Bush. It’s just this simple: By the time of the election, America will be so utterly revolted and fatigued byjust how deeply foul Bush and Co. have been, that our minds will be cracked wide open and we’ll be ready to give a black man a try. I’d say the same theory would apply to Hillary, except that she just has so much buggage in her way, as well as good stuff on her side (mostly… --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-recall-about-president-obama-s-ascent-to-the-white-house/967873)._