Letters to the Editor
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Anonymously: Practice what you preach..BTW "brevity is the soul of wit"
Let the candidates make the preachy speeches, your self induced pat on the back and bonding with other posters has not elevated the discourse in here...
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Delores: Best post on this thread!!
Ditto!! We have are country's future at stake the old paradigm of a white male ruling class must be defeated, now is the moment for this threshold change....
VIVA OBAMA....VIVA OBAMA...VIVA OBAMA...VIVA OBAMA..
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Skeptical feeling ... about what, exactly?
But there is also the skeptical feeling that the Bad Old Politics are not yet ready to be dragged offstage ...
Is there a reason to believe that Obama doesn't get it about "Bad Old Politics"? The man is a senator from Illinois — as staunch a bastion of bad old (Democratic) politics as you can find in this country.
I don't know enough about how he made his way through the political system in his home state, but would love to know more. Walter Shapiro makes an interesting claim — that Obama is inadequate to the challenge of presidential politics — but then fails to show us how it's true.
Does Obama not have big enough ideas? Does he lack the confidence necessary to tame Washington and wield executive power? Is he naive? Thoughtless? Unimaginative, unaware of the gravity of what he's undertaking? This was a chance to delve more into Obama's character and yet Shapiro seemed oddly reluctant to take it.
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Delores' letters
I do appreciate your writing your thoughts on this contest. Still, I'd like to hear what you think about some of Obama's points?
#1 What possible good would bringing insurance companies to the table be? I can't think of anything they'd do that actually be a good solution, but I'd be open to hearing of one.
#2 What is the real benefit of crossing the aisle to work with republicans these days? They are not offering sensible solutions, but are in fact working to make things far worse. Until they come to their senses, compromising with them only leads to bad, or at best, mixed solutions, solutions that would be better without the republicans.
#3 Obama criticizes Clinton and Edwards about their proposed mandates for health insurance. I have mixed feelings about that myself, but I think Paul Krugman is right that there is no other way, not having everyone covered makes coverage more expensive for everyone.
#4 Obama has a tendency to repeat certain very damaging republican talking points. For instance on Social Security (I've heard, but not seen definite confirmation that he no longer thinks this), if he's going to speak up about something, it'd sure be good if he had is information straight BEFORE doing the Lieberman wing of the Neocon party any favors by echoing their crap. Making it worse, his book, "The Audacity of Hope" clearly seems to show that he knew before making these comments that Social Security is not in crisis, rather it's Medicare and Medicaid, yet he still attacks other democrats with republican talking points to make himself seem more bipartisan (that's the only reason I can think of for him to basically state what he knows to be a lie). I also think his snarky comment about trial lawyers towards Edwards is also more Republican talking points. Edwards took on corporate American on some pretty crappy things and won, I think that speaks well for Mr. Edwards. It's certainly not something another democrat should be using as a smear! There are other examples of this by Mr. Obama, but these are a couple I especially find troubling, and in my mind put the lie to him being some sort of new politician.
I wish all the democrats would remember who the real enemy is, it's not each other, it's the republicans and their MSM enablers. Some of what democrats are doing IS crappy, but I don't think any of them would ever INITIATE these things, they're forced by a dishonest media and even more dishonest republican establishment into making bad votes (it still doesn't let them off the hook, but I feel comfortable that they'd not do these things left to their own devices, as they would be with a democrat for president and strongly democratic congress).
I realize, Delores, that you aren't obligated to answer my comments, but you seem to be taking a strong position for Obama, and I was wondering if you had any answers about the above. That's the thing I'm not seeing from the Obama fans, head-on responses to these things.
And please don't think I'm being a big cheerleader for Edwards or Clinton because I have these questions, but i do think there has been a more substantive response (if only slightly) from their partisans than I'm seeing from the Obama camp. Since it's very likely that one of these 3 will get the democratic nod, it's worth it to me to get these answers.
Sorry this is getting long, but one other thing I'd like to say generally about Salon, I wish they'd give more time to Chris Dodd, because I appreciate his efforts to stop the Telecom immunity juggernaut. I'm leaning toward voting for him for that reason alone. Call it a protest vote in the primary, assuming he's still in the running by the time California's primary comes around.
--Ron Robertson
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That should be DOLORES!
Sorry to misspell your name! I should have checked back instead of relying on another poster's commentary and spelling that was handy.
--Ron
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Where's the beef?
Tell me how much better off we'd be with Obama than with someone who actually has the proven chops to be president - Joe Biden.
Someone explain this to me? Does substance matter in the least?
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It's called HONESTY, that's why the media can't understand it
His message is very clear. Politically he is very similar to Edwards/Clinton, but people just trust him more. He has been saying the same things during his campaign for the entire year - that's what draws people to him.
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Obama the candidate would imprison Obama the teen/young adult..
That Obama either does not know or chooses to ignore the fact that the sin which Jesus the Christ most often and vociferously condemned was that of hypocrisy makes me believe that his "faith" is as thick as the coating on an M&M candy.
I'm quite positive that young Barack would have found a lengthy stay in state prison to be a salutary experience which would have immeasurably furthered his political career.
That is what Barack the candidate wishes upon others who are in the same place as he was as a young person.
I have a challenge for Obamaphiles, explain how Barack's life would have been changed for the better had he been arrested and imprisoned for his admitted cocaine use and possession, something which Obama now advocates.