What’s up with that? Barack has been getting a lot of press here and overseas. A media watch is on his every step and conservatives are finding him attractive, likeable. Today, Andrew Sullivan had 2 entries on Obama – one is linked to a NYT story that’s walled.
“I think Barack Obama is the most interesting persona to appear on the political radar screen in decades. He’s a walking, talking hope machine, and he may reshape American politics,”– Republican operative Mark McKinnon.
Next, Sullivan links to and quotes from a long article in the New York mag News & Features `Dreaming of Obama’ – Can the junior senator from Illinois take America? with a post under the header
Obama v.Kos
“A nice little swipe from the senator from Illinois”
“One good test as to whether folks are doing interesting work is, Can they surprise me? And increasingly, when I read Daily Kos, it doesn’t surprise me. It’s all just exactly what I would expect.”
I’m not surprised that Obama made that statement. About two years ago, Obama’s posts at the orange place were not well received. He was flamed. I was appalled at the reception. Enough said.
Here are some more excerpts from Dreaming of Obama:
“If Barack disagrees with you or thinks you haven’t done something appropriate,” says Tom Coburn, a Republican senator from Oklahoma, “he’s the kind of guy who’ll talk to you about it. He’ll come up and reconcile: `I don’t think you were truthful about my bill.’ I’ve seen him do that. On the Senate floor.” [.]
“What Washington does,” Coburn says, “is cause everybody to concentrate on where they disagree as opposed to where they agree. But leadership changes that. And Barack’s got the capability, I believe–and the pizzazz and the charisma–to be a leader of America, not a leader of Democrats.”
Are we ready for a black president whose middle name is Hussein, or Is Obama “black enough”?
People often like to ask whether the country is ready for a black president. “The test is not a Barack test,” says Jesse Jackson, who ran for president in 1984 and 1988. “It’s America’s test. Phenomenal blacks are wonderful, but they ain’t new. Do you know how qualified Paul Robeson was? All-American, Phi Beta Kappa, Othello?”
Obama: “I don’t want people to pretend I’m not black or that it’s somehow not relevant. But ultimately,” he says, “I’d want to be a really great president, you know? And then I’d worry about all the other stuff. Because there are a lot of mediocre or poor presidents.”
Reporters from The Independent, UK caught up with him in California as ‘Obama sought to convert evangelicals over to Democrat cause’
“If Barack Obama ends up running for the White House, expect to see this footage run over and over on a television screen near you: the charismatic black Democratic senator from Illinois talking the language of God and receiving a standing ovation from a packed crowd at one of the country’s most prominent conservative evangelical mega-churches.
Mr Obama entered the political equivalent of the lion’s den[.]
Many evangelicals were appalled that he should be invited to address their own, given his liberal attitude to hot-button issues such as abortion and gay rights. One fundamentalist leader said he represented “the antithesis of biblical ethics and morality”. A coalition of “pro-life” groups said they could never work with someone who advocated “the murder of babies in the womb”.
Curiosity aside, many of his Republican colleagues and Republican operatives offer nice compliments. Hmmm. Obama, on a direct question if he’s running for president, replied No…but, that ‘he could change his mind.’ I’m filing him as serious about a presidential bid.
But I’m not for Obama throwing his hat in the ’08 race. Why?
I.dred.it. – all the mean spirited attitudes – rampant across this land reminds me of 1968. We’ve ramped up the hate. I say to Obama watch your back.
And as Hillary eyes a ’08 bid she is said to be casting her anxious eyes on Obama. Of Hillary and Obama, the question presents; Will they last?
Both Hillary and Obama should look north. At the weekend in Canada, a ten month campaign in two races for leadership – one race for the Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, (a prime minister-in-waiting) and the other, Leader of the Provincial Conservative Party of Alberta, (an instant premier) – front-runners can and did finish last. Front runners who peak too early are prone to their support collapsing from fatigue.
The results in Canada reveal voters are way ahead of back room politics – establishment politicians.
Delegates at both conventions voted:
Front-runners with baggage. No
Front-runners without experience. No
Front-runners who are pro-war. No
What’s the issue of our time? Stop the wars and divert the billions to funding a sustainable environment and social justice that by extension includes single payer universal access to health care.
From The Independent, UK article linked above:
“Evangelicals may care about abortion and gay marriage, but they also care about the Iraq war and the environment and issues of social justice, polling data shows.