A previous poster stated that FDR held no prior elected office before winning the presidency. Actually, he was elected governor of New York in 1928, and New York was the largest state by population at that time.

Let's mind our historical facts...

...Obama's unfit because he told a Kenyan reporter that he (Obama) couldn't do anything about American farm subsidies because some of his (Obama's) constituents were soybean farmers.

Sherrod Brown/Dennis Kucinich 2008! "Get the Rich off Welfare and Make Trade Fair!" Now that's a slogan!

What he's up against: Antiabortion groups like the National Clergy Council and Phyllis Schlafly's Eagle Forum, which are demanding that Warren rescind his invitation to Obama on the ground that Christians should "never work with" those who "support the murder of babies in the womb."

Ah, right, because Christ never suggested that we should embrace sinners, especially when good could come of it. Christ was never one to embrace those who had sinned, and his reluctance to forgive sins is well documented. Jesus must be thrilled that someone like Phyllis Schlafly can so clearly interpret what he wants for the rest of us here on Earth. Much better to encourage division and strife over the issue of AIDS and how best to help those who are sick and dying than to listen to a man who has a different opinion that you do.

"Be on guard against the scribes, who like to go around in long robes and love greetings in marketplaces, seats of honor in synagogues, and places of honor at banquets. They devour the houses of widows and, as a pretext, recite lengthy prayers. They will receive a very severe condemnation."

-Luke, 20:46-47:

Truthfully, I just get a 90s retro kick out of that phrase, but I think it applies to Obama's theoretical plans to run for president in '08, simply because of his level of experience.

I understand that he may wish to strike while the iron is hot, so to speak. Or he may wish to run as a relative neophyte simply to stave off the label of "Washington insider" before it can set in and taint him should be wind up against someone like, say, Rudy Giuliani.

Neither of these would be an issue if he completed a term or two and earned a reputation based on actual performance in national politics rather than his obvious charisma, which seems to be the one and only quality everyone can agree on. Don't get me wrong, I have no doubt the man can succeed as a Senator, and build a sterling record reasonable Americans of any party could endorse, especially after the mess we're in now turns into the even worse mess we're going to be left with after Bush leaves. We need minds like his, now more than ever. But he has to take the time to build that record, otherwise he'll come across like some kind of carpetbagger, and that perception will be his undoing as a candidate. Survive two terms in the Senate and not be a K-street puppet, show the country he can stay true to his conscience and put the time into his office that his constituents deserve (they're the ones who put him there, after all), and any reservations about his viability disappear, or at least become significantly marginalized by sheer weight of experience. More or less the same is true for John Edwards and even Hillary Clinton.

If the Democrats want to draft anyone they should draft Al Gore. He has the brains, the experience, and the only story that could compete with Giuliani's (or trump McCain's) in 2008. Unfortunately he doesn't seem to want it, but I recall an old saying that states that, for that reason alone, he's probably more qualified than everyone else who's ambitions are suspected or already known.

Sure we know nothing about Mr. Obama, and he has only the most nominal of accomplishments to date but to say that will bar him from the presidency is to be ignorant of history.

JFK & RFK had equally sparse resumes when they sought the presidency, and of course, Dan Quayle & George W. Bush, had hardly set the world on fire as politicos prior to their rise.

I don’t believe FDR had held elected office prior to becoming President. And Abraham Lincoln's greatest achievement prior to becoming president was that he had lost his race to Steven Douglas, but had won the debates. The President is very rarely elected because of his impressive credentials, but because of his impressive persona.

Mr. Obama has an impressive persona, he seems to have good ideas, and seems to be a man who works hard to get his ideas across. He may wind up being an awful president due to his lack of experience, but his lack of closeted skeletons from years of public service can only help him win the office in the first place.

Sure you can say, "We've had our fill of learn as you go Presidents" but I get the feeling we're just tired of republican learn as you go’s, and in that, only until 2012.

Two things, first off Obama would not win the presidency because white america would not vote for him. Lets be honest, white people are still not comfortable with any type of minority leader. If the people in Tenn did not elect Harold Ford, then what makes you think Obama has a chance?

And finally, what has he done??? Okay he's made a couple of speeches and has been on Oprah to promote a book, but what are his accomplishments? As an young African American, I feel that Obama is being pushed on us as some form of savior when he is really (as some one noted above me) photogenic and knows how to say the right things at the right time.

If Obama is as good as everyone says he is, he will be a better candidate after we've seen more of what he actually stands for beyond the vague notion of hope. So far, all I've seen is blue smoke, ego and charm. Nor have I seen much in the way of liberalism. Frankly, I don't see the rush, particularly as the press seems to be pushing the Dems down Suicide Alley yet again, first with Hillary and now Obama. It makes me wonder how much of this is the Rove machine forcing a card on us. After seeing how easily they played the race card on a far more established candidate, Harold Ford, I worry that there's still too much endemic racism in this country for a black candidate (and one in the case of Obama who's admitted to having used cocaine) to win nationally. Funny how this story is on the same issue as why we need to win the South. And given the distaste the national electorate demonstrates for sophisticated Northern candidates of any stripe, I think the Dems need to find someone more aw-shucks and downhome who yet manages to have some charisma.