Because he has the balls to stand up to the right-wing smear machine.
Observe his response to Fox News after their incorrect and grossly irresponsible reporting about the school he attended in Indonesia. Most candidates would step lightly around it with some mealy-mouthed finger wagging, because the last thing they want to do is piss off a major media outlet. Obama went right for the throat.
A successful candidate has to understand that ignoring these things will not make them go away. Obama seems to get that, so when the bitchslaps come, he slaps back, and hard. 'Bout time, I say.
Hey, after six years of Bushisms by the truckload (“nucular,” anyone?), any candidate who can string together polysyllabic words without stumbling over his tongue is gonna look like effin’ Einstein by default.
I got a copy of Obama’s book, The Audacity of Hope, for Christmas and it was a very good read.
I had only one quibble (he gives Reagan far too much credit for the fall of the Berlin Wall) but other than that, he opened up and explained his thoughts, his background and gave some insight into his ideas, goals and vision for the future.
If there is any criticism, it would be his bubbling optimistic idealism and faith in the American public. Whereas I, a cynic still bitter over the past two stolen elections, find Obama both naive and refreshing at the same time, I want to believe he is right; that the American public still does have a core of decency and fair play and would like to be respected at home and abroad.
Yes, Obama is a raving optimist, and he believes in an America I am not really sure exists anymore, but at this point - I would rather put my faith in someone who is a true believer than someone who is simply in the game to win.
He’s the candidate I dislike the least, and I know next to nothing about him. I honestly don’t think he has a chance to win in 2008, and I’m a little disappointed to hear that he’s going for the top office so soon after getting into the Senate.
He might be enough to keep me voting Democrat next year, but we’ll see.
Yes, but it’s also evidence that sportscasters love statistics and trivia and facts about who’s first/most/best to do something. And to some extent this is true of the media in general: it gives them something to talk about.
An extensive Senate record is a double-edged sword when it comes to running for president. You may benefit from name recognition, but you’re guaranteed to have cast a bunch of votes that won’t look good in smear campaigns.
Wasn’t JFK the last Senator elected president? I don’t think it’s the automatic disqualifier that some people do, but Obama’s got charisma, name recognition now, a lot of public goodwill, and national office without the black marks that go with it. I think he was smart to run this year, whether or not he wins, because I don’t know that 4 or 8 more years in the Senate would improve his chances.
Yes. This year is unusual because Bush can’t run again and Cheney says he won’t run, so it’s wide-open on both sizes. Nobody should be shocked if a Senator wins this time.
Right. All the more reason for Obama to run this year, rather than waiting 4 or 8. (And part of the reason I wished Feingold had run, though I never really thought he had a great chance of getting the nomination.)
He was the last POTUS elected to office right out of a Senate seat. Both LBJ and Nixon were elected with a Senate record in their history. Granted both men had other platforms to run from (LBJ as the incumbant, and Nixon had been VP), but their Senate records were not enough to kill them.
I think I might be in love.
He seems to be someone that can force the country to return to a more respectable level. I have hope for the future being better when I listen to him speak or read his remarks.
Obama is a vessel. People are looking at the potential as opposed to what he’s actually done. You put your hopes and dreams into it and hope the vessel doesn’t get broken.
People have a little less hope than they did in the mid to late 90s. The people that are lacking hope, by large, are also those that feel a big change is needed. It doesn’t get no more distance-y than Obama when you compare him to Bush the Younger.
Liken it to the NBA draft. Teams draft the top 10 picks based on potential, not on how they’ve done. Part of it is smart, for if there’s a can’t-miss prospect, it pans out and then some. Of course, it’s also playing the lottery. If Obama wins and ends up being incompetent, dark days are indeed ahead.
