Letters to the Editor
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His Policies
OK, he has star power, decisiveness and all that, but how about giving us some idea of his policies.
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The Black Fred Astaire
Ugh! that terrible caricature by Zach Trenholm makes Obama look like Fred Astaire in blackface. Who came up with that one Walt?
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And made history?
Are the names Al Sharpton (2004), Carol Moseley-Braun (2004) and Shirley Chisolm (1972) missing from Mr. Shapiro's history books? And Jesse Jackson may have been "dissed and dismissed" by Mr. Shapiro, but certainly not by those who voted for him in the primaries. How insulting is that statement to thousands of voters who not only voted for Mr. Jackson, but also worked on his campaign and tirelessly worked with him to register Democrats, Black and White.
Hooray for Barack Obama. I'm tickled to death that he is in the race -- or soon will be. But let's not rewrite history.
Carole R. Simmons
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The Day we lost Hope June 6th 1968
Let us all be that brave again. Enough to think we can make a difference. Not since Bobby. The times seem so the same.
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..and his opinion on the surge is?
His Policies
"OK, he has star power, decisiveness and all that, but how about giving us some idea of his policies."
-- Anonymous
Agree, for example what exactly is his stance on the troop escalation? I know where Edwards is but can anyone tell me what Obama thinks?
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Making a Statement to the World
Even if Obama is a mediocre president, this will make a great statement to the world, which is mostly thinking Americans are boorish idiots for electing a boorish idiot to be their president. I don't think we so much need someone to take us in a radical new direction and someone to get us out of this radical direction we are in. We don't need a Lincoln or a Roosevelt but we need someone to lead us who is sensible, intelligent and aware that there is a world world out there. Someone has got to bring America back to its senses and Hillary Clinton is not the person to do that.
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Another Shapiro Pronouncement
That fails to match reality.
After all, Ford saved us from the national nightmare of Nixon under trial.
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Does anyone remember the year 2000?
A reader above wrote that,
"Even if Obama is a mediocre president, this will make a great statement to the world, which is mostly thinking Americans are boorish idiots for electing a boorish idiot to be their president."... "We don't need a Lincoln or a Roosevelt but we need someone to lead us who is sensible, intelligent and aware that there is a world world out there. Someone has got to bring America back to its senses and Hillary Clinton is not the person to do that."
Oh yeah, that sounds like sound reasoning. Lets not choose someone experienced and ready for the job and role of the Presidency (aka Al Gore 2000), lets pick a candidate that will show just how 'smart' we all are and how willing to buy what new fresh and fun person that the media decide will make the election more exciting. (aka Bill Bradley 2000)
So instead of supporting Senator Clinton who either leads or is a tick close to beating John McCain or any other Republican presidential candidate (Obama is far behind both McCain and Guliani in one on ones), lets once again allow ourselves to be divided and swayed by the media and the loud silly people who would rather be 'right' and 'pure' (Nader 2000) than support someone (actually an entire team) who actually has a very good chance of winning back the White House.
We all know now just how well that idea worked out don't we?
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re: anonymous's policy objection.
It's hard to write about Obama's policies when he's a clear populist and doesn't actually have any.
Still, he's probably a _less worse_ choice than both Hillary and McCain.
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Experience is NOT a Problem
Dumbya had done nothing but be a figurehead gubner in Texass, and spend other people's money on a baseball team. Great resume. Obama was the first black president of the Harvard Law Review. He's a major intellect, telegenic (albeit less so than Edwards, who seems too good to be true), and his main asset: Hillary is a spineless divisive loser. We're going to mat for her? I don' think so, Tim. I personally prefer an Edwards/Obama ticket, which I think would be all but unbeatable (Lie-bold voting fraud machines notwithstanding). Dodd's a good man. Biden is a certified bore. I worked on the Robert Kennedy campaign in the first year I was old enough to vote, and that June day took the heart out of a lot of us. Obama does show the potential to be that healer that we so desparately need. I'll be watching for substance, too, but age, experience, and intellect are no problem at all.
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Make No Mistake: He's running
I watched Senator Obama's stump speech at the Iowa steak fry on C-SPAN last fall. He spoke for about fifteen minutes w/o notes and a teleprompter, since the event was outside. He finished to loud and sustained applause from the audience and left the lectern to meet audience members waiting behind a rope, laughing, posing for photo-ops from cel-phone cameras, and signing autographs. The C-SPAN camera pulled away from a close-up of this to show a long line of people waiting for their opportunity to see him one on one that extended beyond the camera's view. That event was Senator Obama's moth-from-the-cocoon moment. Let's see if he can avoid licking or being licked by the flame the next two years.
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We don't need another "experienced" Washington Insider.
i'm so tired of hearing this "experience" excuse. It's so ambiguous and lame. It may be precisely his inexperience that we need.
What, he'll be prepped to be President when he's been swallowed up by the corrupt, pathetic excuse for a Senate we have? When he's spent decades hanging around the people who have been and are continuing to fuck things up? Yeah, he needs to spend years and years getting beat and bogged down into a corporate-feeding greedy war monger like everyone else in politics- good idea. He needs to spend MORE time in our disgusting, poisoned political atmosphere, *then* he'll be acceptable, right?
His inexperience may precisely be what makes it possible to see and work outside The Box. "The Box" is politics and politicians with corporate-owned souls, it's sheepdom, it's the norm, it's the status quo... and CLEARLY THE BOX ISN'T WORKING.