Is Obama done,cooked and baked?

Parent Cafe
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<p>Dross, with respect to your feelings on this, I think it’s a false argument and certainly not a reason to withhold support from a candidate. The truth is that no matter who is president, the minute she/he makes a mistake, millions of people are going to blame her/him based on whatever. Race, gender, religion, IQ, college attended, etc… And besides, Obama is 50% white. If he makes a mistake, we can just as easily blame his whiteness. </p>

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<p>I think Obama’s success so far says that America is striving to be worthy. </p>

<p>Have some faith in our better selves.</p>

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<p>And when one speaks of race, one must be sensitive to the history behind race in America if one wishes to reach certain constituencies here. It is just historical fallout. However much chagrined you may be about it, America is just not ready to act as if it does not exist.</p>

<p>It would be disingenuous to pretend race differences don’t exist, or religious, or economic, or where we/our parents were born or differences that are sex/age based.</p>

<p>That doesn’t mean that we can’t work together for a common vision however.</p>

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<p>Dross, you said:</p>

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<p>Here’s one reporter’s view, from Washintgon Post</p>

<p>[washingtonpost.com</a> - nation, world, technology and Washington area news and headlines](<a href=“http://washingtonpost.com%5Dwashingtonpost.com”>http://washingtonpost.com)</p>

<p>One media narrative that seems to be taking root is of Obama as the candidate of lofty rhetoric and Clinton as the maven of pedestrian policy talk. At a rally at Furman University here Tuesday, Obama brought the audience to several peaks, raising his voice over the applause while describing how his days as a community organizer “taught me that ordinary people can do extraordinary things” and how “the dream that so many generations fought for feels like it is slipping away.”</p>

<p>But the address was saturated with proposals. Obama called for tax rebates; a one-time boost in Social Security checks; extending unemployment insurance; mortgage aid for those facing foreclosure; raising the minimum wage; protecting pensions; and college tuition credits. And that was before he got to his support for solar and wind power and biodiesel fuel. (There was no discussion of how he would pay for all this, other than to say his health-care plan would be partly financed by ending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans.)</p>

<p>How, then, has Obama been saddled with an image of being long on inspiration and short on details? The answer is that journalists are not accustomed to covering a candidate who moves crowds the way Obama does, who uses speech cadences and rhythm like Martin Luther King Jr. without making his talk explicitly about race. Sen. Clinton already owned the policy-wonk slot, so by default, Obama was cast as the poetic one.</p>

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<p>Drosselmeier, nothing will change without trying.</p>

<p>Ted Kennedy is very impressive today. Excellent, just excellent speech.</p>

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Of course these are not proposals. These are just the results of wishful thinking. He just as well could have said “I think every American needs a new Beamer, and and and, maybe for you Southerners, a new truck.”. Haven’t we all heard these sorts of visionless “proposals” before? Hillary is just as visionless, despite her image of wonkiness. Not even one of these folks can build the image, showing the effects their proposals will have on the nation, and illustrating their feasibility, how they will be implemented, so that we might have some faith that they will be able to work with Congress. It is just fluff – from all of them. I think with Obama we are dealing with six, rather than a half-dozen.</p>

<p>The problem is since the man is black, it won’t be enough. Consider that people even on these enlightened forums are dumping on Obama simply for his saying nothing about a comment made by his white opponent. Do you understand me here? They are claiming he used a “machine gun” against himself on this issue, though the man did nothing. They are even claiming ‘certainty’ that Obama was behind the claims of racism that were made after the comments came to light. They are condemning Obama, and are certain about his guilt, though they have not even a shred of evidence for it. Just because the man gets support from Oprah, or speaks about MLK, he is condemned - even here. Do you understand me?</p>

<p>What is happening here is not limited only to here. Obama would be the leader of a nation that has a deeply ingrained hatred for men who look like him, a nation that is so eager to condemn him even without evidence of his guilt, that it quickly removes its white support from him simply because a white guy casually mentions how Jesse Jackson won the same state as he. He does not even have to be guilty of a thing, and yet he is condemned, and those who condemn him will be “certain” that he is worthy of it. Well imagine what would happen were he in fact guilty of some error, as all presidents are at some point in their tenure. I don’t think America is ready to follow a leader it hates. Obama will have to be a lot more powerful a leader to govern under these circumstances. His speeches and fluff about “change” will simply not be enough.</p>

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<p>"If you are going to question a 15 year olds behavior, why don’t you question smoking-inhaling-snorting of the other guy.</p>

<p>Obama is just an empty suite."</p>

<p>Sigh…I guess Dstark must have tagged you when she got tired. You must by now know well and good, that I AM NOT questioning a 15 yr old’s behavior in 1963. Indeed, I have given her a pass with the understanding that she WAS (past tense) a product of the general, though slowly shifting American zeitgeist of the time, and the good little impressionable daughter of her zealously conservative republican parents in particular. I have given her a pass because (once more, with feeling), SHE WAS 15, A CHILD (caps for emphasis—not yelling. I don’t know how to create bold print). As such, the things which she held to be politically imperative were the same things which her parents, and most of white America held to be imperative at the time. Civil Rights and racial equality for “the negro” were NOT among those things.</p>

<p>Hey, I get it that you luuuurve Hillary Clinton, that you’ll happily drink her kool Aid, and that she’s perfect in every way. I get it. I get it that you have no problem with her giving the impression to AfAm audiences that she stood firmly in their corner even at the tender age of 15. Your privilege. Just say it’s no big deal to you, and we’ll be done with the back and forth. Indeed, among all the things I might criticize about the adult Hillary, this discrepancy of hers is relatively minor. But, as an African American, I won’t swallow the lie like a cat licking the cream, and I won’t allow people on this forum to obfuscate the the truth of my posts with straw men and tangential attacks on Obama without calling those tactics out.</p>

<p>As I’ve already said ad nauseum, Obama is not my candidate, so I really don’t feel it necessary to defend the history of his youth, which he has readily admitted, and NOT retooled for political gain. If anything, his admitted prior experimentation with drugs is to his political detriment. So I’ll leave it to you to rub your hands together with glee while harping on his drug past, especially since you’re so very good at it ;)</p>

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<p>Speak it Dross, speak it! I agree with EVERY WORD you just wrote in post #255.</p>

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<p>Drosselmeier, none of the candidates are going to accomplish what they say.</p>

<p>What Obama is going to do is set a tone, an uplifting tone. A different tone than what we have had for the last 7 years and a different tone than the other candidates.</p>

<p>An optimistic tone. </p>

<p>Optimism…what a nice change.</p>

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<p>Indicted Political Fundraiser Tony Rezko Arrested</p>

<p>In sharp contrast to his tough talk about ethics reform in government, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., approached a well-known Illinois political fixer under active federal investigation, Antoin “Tony” Rezko, for “advice” as he sought to find a way to buy a house shortly after being elected to the United States Senate.</p>

<p>The parcel included an adjacent lot which Obama told the Chicago Tribune he could not afford because “it was already a stretch to buy the house.” </p>

<p>On the same day Obama closed on his house, Rezko’s wife bought the adjacent empty lot, meeting the condition of the seller who wanted to sell both properties at the same time. </p>

<p>Rezko had been widely reported to be under investigation by the U.S. attorney and the FBI at the time Obama contacted him and has since been indicted on corruption charges by a federal grand jury in a case that prosecutors say involves bribes, kickbacks and “efforts to illegally obtain millions of dollars.” </p>

<p>This week, a federal judge in Chicago ordered the Rezko trial to begin Feb. 25. </p>

<p>Obama maintains his relationship with Rezko was “above board and legal” but has admitted bad judgment, calling his decision to involve Rezko “a bone-headed mistake.” </p>

<p>Rezko’s behind-the-scenes connection in the Obama house deal became public as Rezko revealed personal financial details as he sought to post bail. </p>

<p>While Rezko’s wife paid the full asking price for the land, Obama paid $300,000 under the asking price for the house. The house sold for $1,650,000 and the price Rezko’s wife paid for the land was $625,000. </p>

<p>[ABC</a> News: The Rezko Connection: Obama’s Achilles Heel?](<a href=“The Rezko Connection: Obama's Achilles Heel? - ABC News”>The Rezko Connection: Obama's Achilles Heel? - ABC News)</p>

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<p>Obama would be the leader of a nation that has a deeply ingrained hatred for men who look like him</p>

<p>Yes Obama is biracial- but 1/3 of the US population is a minority , in 10% of US counties, Caucasians make up less than 50 % of the population and ethnic diversity is an accepted facts in hundreds of thousands of neighborhoods across the country. </p>

<p>A growing population of 45% of children under 5 are minority and interracial couples are a common sight- much more common than when my mother attended the same high school as my daughter is, 60 years ago.</p>

<p>The differences that divide us are economic, and educational- and why shouldn’t a man with a background different from the old guard politicians bring us together?</p>

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<p>Poetsheart, what truth in your posts?</p>

<p>When you have any proof that Hillary actually opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, I would like to see it.</p>

<p>The Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed on July 2nd 1964… before the republican convention.</p>

<p>The republican convention occured two weeks later.</p>

<p>Goldwater received the nomination at the convention.</p>

<p>This was in the platform…</p>

<p>“The 1964 Republican Platform was dominated by Goldwater conservatives, which made the platform dominated by calls for limited government, condemnations of the Kennedy and Johnson foreign and domestic policy, calls for more open space for free enterprise, a hard-line against Communist North Vietnam, calls for reform of the United Nations, a staunch support of NATO, calls for lower taxes and a hard-line against international Communism.”</p>

<p>Like I said if you have any proof that Clinton was against the Civil Rights Act of 1964, I would love to read it.</p>

<p>Were there any voters in Illinois, who voted for Goldwater for president, that were in favor of the Civil Rights Act of 1964?</p>

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<p>Oh I will feel so safe and secure at night, knowing that America has a president with an optimistic tone. </p>

<p>Sorry, I still want to see proof that he can work within the partisanship of Congress. Show me something in his resume that makes anyone think he is capable of running the US.</p>

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<p>Yes, there are those who will condemn. But I choose to believe there are more of us than of them, Dross. And nothing can be accomplished by giving up at the beginning of change. The fact that Ted Kennedy has thrown his weight behind Obama, probably in part because of what B. Clinton said in regards to Jesse Jackson the other day, should speak volumes about what enlightened people are capable of believing and how they might vote. Did you see the rally at American University? This is not a normal political campaign. </p>

<p>As for the “fluff” it sounds like nobody you have heard as a candidate offers any real solutions; perhaps real solutions are not so easy to visualize while running for office? It’s not like buying a car, with concrete specs and a definite pricetag, more like developing a car as you go and having faith in the design team and what vision they are able to sketch out. I will take the vision of the guy who is drawing the disenchanted or apathetic out of the woodwork.</p>

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<p>bulletandpima,
When will YOU have had enough of the politics of fear. Seven long years is enough for me.</p>

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<p>If you have respect for Teddy as being an altruistic person…wow</p>

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<p>simba,
When has our president ever admitted to a “bone-headed mistake?” Um, never? I would rather have a leader who admits to making a stupid decision than a leader who never concedes a mistake.</p>

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<p>Fear isn’t my motivation, reality is. </p>

<p>Reality that the economy is global
Reality that the terrorism was is alive
Reality that partisanship exists in our govt.
Reality that our borders need to be secured</p>

<p>Reality that we need realistic solutions and not “Optimistic tone”. Every supporter of Obama says the same thing his tone. Caroline Kennedy wrote about his optimism, not about what he is going to implement and how the programs will be paid for. Again no REALITY, just it makes me feel good</p>

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<p>Is it admitting mistake or trying to seep it under the rug? Hoping that it would go away. W admitted his boozing etc to youthful transgressions.</p>

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<p>Agree with bullet. We will be electing a president, not a Comencement Day Speaker.</p>

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<p>Maybe I misunderstand PH here, but it seems to me her point does not have much to do with whether Hillary supported the Civil Rights Act. What PH strikes at here is Hillary’s implied claim of identifying with the Civil Rights Movement since the days of MLK. The way PH gets at this is reasonable. It turns out Hillary was a staunch Barry Goldwater supporter back in the Civil Rights days, even claiming to be a “Goldwater Girl right down to [her] cowgirl outfit”. How then could she have reasonably identified with the Civil Rights Movement when the platform she supported in those days was virulently racist and ANTI Civil Rights?</p>

<p>Perhaps one could have supported a segregationist publicly, while privately supporting the Civil Rights Movements and integration, but such a thing is not exactly reasonable. The reasonable thing to believe here is that Hillary is lying. And come now, we all know she is.</p>