When he wins, I want full credit for being the first to push him towards a run, two and a half years ago.
True, except for Hilary. And Gore, if he changes and runs.
I think a lot of it is sheer stamina - after a long campaign, the candidates tend to wear down. Which is why there are disadvantages to declaring so far ahead of the primaries. That’s a loooooooooooooong time to stay on message.
True dat, but the flip side of “no experience” is “no skeletons to come back and haunt you”. And the flip side of “no experience” is that he has no yet been put thru the wringer and his background scoured for something to use.
Bush’s DUI never came up in his gubernatorial campaigns. One of Hilary’s advantages is that she been thru the process, and had time to let the cattle futures and so forth drop off the public attention.
We’ll see. For the media, it’s often “six weeks building you up, and six weeks tearing you down”. And there is too much new media around for Obama to get a pass just because the MSM likes him. That kind of gentleman’s agreement (for Republicans and Democrats) worked for JFK, but it ain’t gonna work like that for Obama. And I have no doubt that Hilary and Co. will cut him down just as ruthlessly as she needs to to get the nomination. It wasn’t the Republicans who dredged up Biden’s plagiarized speech and Willie Horton - it was fellow Democrats who did it first. See also Bush Sr. and “voodoo economics”, etc.
Don’t know what Obama’s ideas are, and he has no record in particular to show them. We elected a President a few years back because he had a nice smile and was a “Washington outsider”, and because he ran against an unpopular President. It didn’t work out too well, IMO, partly because of trouble with Iran then, too.
Gotta read Obama’s book and see what he has to say.
Regards,
Shodan
Here’s another thing that is solidifying my appreciation for the man. Listening to him speak about what he’s been doing in the Senate (and why he’s been doing it): Yet another iTunes link, this time to his podcast page.