Letters to the Editor
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Bottomline, anyone is qualified
The Presidency is no longer a one person job. It's a college of leadership steered in one more or less general direction by the President. It doesn't really matter what one's specific qualifications may or may not be because there aren't any. Bush is not a failure because he's dull or a zealot or a psychopath. He's a failure because he's stubborn and doesn't listen or care what anyone else thinks does or says nor what the world around him should inform him to do. His sins are arrogance and pride. On that alone, just about anyone is fundamentally qualified to be an average President. The notion that Obama isn't 'Presidential' or experienced enough is nonsense.
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A poster said Bush wasa figuredhead Governor
With no experience..
Well, for one), while Governor of Texas he killed more innocent 'deathro' inmates that any governor of his time...
and 2), Bush as gerveinor played more than 1,671,282 games of Tetris(TM) becomeing elegible for a new political achievement in the 'Great Guiness Book of Ignoble Records'.
He also completed mor Tetris games than he has completed his own defications with a sphinter spasm.
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As a Demo craticic male
Consider a possible run for the Presidency,
We must ask ourselves, how will we conduct the cover-up if he succeeds in getting fellatio in the Oval Office, or hallway coat closets?
This is the White House after all.
Absolute seriousness is necessary on these past national crisis.
Plese respond ASAP.
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I'll wait for the debates.
“Star power” can be a shallow thing. Often is seems to be most effective at only generating more interest in the star, ramping up the cult of celebrity/personality factor around the star and not much else. I make a conscious effort to remove it from my considerations when voting. One need not be a “star” to have a personality and communications skills that are appealing and effective in whatever way a situation calls for, that is, I don’t completely devalue the need for distinctive, compelling personality.
My challenge when considering Obama is to not let the hype and over-exposure, where the terms “star” and “rock star” are commonplace, turn me off so much that I don’t examine his potential to govern. It’s tough and I’ll admit at this stage I am completely, totally turned off by his possible candidacy. I wonder how many others find the “rock star” label to have a cheapening effect on Obama.
Obama doesn’t seem to represent anything substantially different than Clinton, Edwards, Kerry, Gore, etc. (certainly that group of possibles is different than Biden or Bayh though). I suppose that’s another reason I can’t get too wild over him – why? As many have noted too, Dean was the buzz candidate early on in the ’04 cycle and we see where that ended – intense media attention can decide to cut the other way in the blink of an eye (a star-burning-out narrative can easily be created by the media because we love to see the mighty fall...it sells and if it's on video all the better because viral sells better than anything).
I’ll wait to see them debate a few times before I draw too many conclusions.
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Race irrelevant?
Obama's race is irrelevant? He is a powerful speaker and great charm. Obama is a moderate and will have broad appeal in the electorate.
But to suggest that his race is irrelevant, and not the source of much of his appeal to white Americans, is ignorant of people's reactions to his as well as broader narratives of American guilt and redemption.
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"Lack of Experience"
Shapiro has forgotten or simply does not realize that this argument is and has always been an argument about race.
In every industry people of color are always expected to have much more experience than anyone else.
So anyone who claims that Obama has no depth of experience (while Bush sits in the WH no less!) is adopting an historically racist argument.
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re: Reflecting on Obama's "Dreams from My Father"
We are stuck in a disastrous war in Iraq that could very well set the entire Middle East on fire. We are bogged down in Afganistan with no end in sight. Our military is stretched to the breaking point, corrupt and demoralized. Healthcare, basic healthcare is a luxury too many american cannot afford. Corporations have been given a blank check to break the back of the middleclass. The wall between church and state is rapidly crumblimg. Every year we are losing ground with environmental concerns. We have an administration that cares more about its Saudi patrons than finding a viable alternative to oil.
I mean no disrespect, but some maudlin stories about Barack Obama's childhood mean absolutely nothing to me. We all have families and parents and life defining moments from our younger days. So what? He want to be president? give me some ideas and answers to the brutal problems facing this country, not fluff. I have not heard one word of subtance from that man's mouth...not one. And I've found myself disappointed with the majority of positions or "half-positions" he has taken
We need big ideas and someone with the guts to present them and get them done. We don't need charisma. That's what real rock stars are for.
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This is what we've come down to?
I know George Bush has set the bar pretty low for presidential candidates but is that really a good thing? Barak Obama may well be a great man an intelligent man heck maybe the Tiger Woods of politics, but then again he may be the Jimmy Carter of politics; a great man, a sincere and intelligent man who has good ideas and yet so incapable of accomplishing them, he ends up losing to the next Ronald Reagan, and the evil spawn of Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld retake the Whitehouse.
If anything about this disasterous administration should have taught us its to ignore media darlings. From Ross Perot to Ralph Nader they are losers. They may mouth the platitudes we so believe in, but this is politics not American Ido. If we want to see real change we must elect someone who knows politics, knows politicians, and most of all knows where all the bodies are buried. This idea of some outsider, some fresh faced punk, some Mr. Deeds going to Washington to clean up the mess is just a myth and exactly what the reall powers that be want us to believe in. They can't accomplish squat and they end up giving our ideals a bad reputation by their failure.
Oh yeah, Swarzenager pulled it off, but only after turning from the "Governator" into a savy political insider. Here's an original thought; why not just elect a savy political insider in the first place. We don't hire plumbers to perform gall bladder surgery. No one would come to our door saying "I'm sick of CPA corruption and as an art history student I'm here to do your taxes ethically."
Barak may be a great guy and his father as a goat herder is definitely endearing, but what pull does he actually have in congress? What ideas can he actually put through rather than just espouse in ghost written semi-biographies? What would four years look like with him at the helm? Talk of great initiatives pulled through or more glamour shots of him on the beach and gossip about his African roots? Criminy people we already had the 70's we don't need them again.
We need an LBJ. Stop laughing. Now. Look LBJ didn't start the Vietnam war he inherited it. Worse, he inherited the mentallity that no US president ever lost a war, even one someone else foolishly let start. I mean you, Ike. No politician in 1964 could have pulled out of Vietnam under the pressure they were under. If you don't believe me, ask yourself why we haven't left Iraq yet. But put Vietnam aside and LBJ was one of the most effective and greatest presidents of the 20th century. He was Roosevelt with more conviction, and better yet more pull. The man singlehandidly pulled African Americans into equal rights like Paul Bunyan pulling up a mighty oak by the roots. He gave reality to Roosevelt's tepid dream of a great society, a safety net for the poor and a real chance for the lowest classes of society to reach the highest classes. He didn't do it with charisma, or a sound bite about two Americas. He didn't do it with an appearance on Oprah, or a smarmy book about Hope, he did it with the only way you can do anything in Washington; with years of experience in Congress, a well established friendship with the powers that be, and a deep knowledge of where the bodies are buried and what arm he could twist that would make any opponants scream uncle. This guy from Texas, rammed a civil rights bill down a Democratic party whose base was in the South. Kennedy feared pushing civil rights. LBJ feared nothing. And when he was done with that he stomped eliminating poverty down the throats of those who most profited from poverty. He did all of this because he was an experienced and savvy politician, not some outsider with a pretty face and a head full of great thoughts and not the slightest idea how to fulfill them, let alone get those who really have power go along with them.
I am sick of pretty boys and media darlings. Just once for one damn presidential term, giving someone who knows what to do, how to do it, and with the political power to crush anyone who stands in his way.
You want real change, go find Al Gore.