National PoliticsPosted by Robert at 28 Nov 2006 11:16 am
That’s what a friend told me after meeting him on a recent visit to San Francisco, and if you are a reader of BeyondChron, they are too. Randy Shaw has run a couple of articles suggesting that Obama run for President. Well sign me up. Oh but you can sign up. I drank the Kool-Aid, will you?
November 28th, 2006 at 11:46 am
Barack Obama used to live three doors down from me when I grew up in Chicago. If you asked me two years ago whehther I would support Obama for President, I would have been enthusiastic. I remember when Obama was in the Illinois State Senate, and he was a progressive champion.
My problem with Obama is how he’s acted since reaching the national limelight. Frankly, he spends a lot of time scolding other Democrats. He’s triangulating in a lot of ways like Bill Clinton. I don’t like that.
So I have mixed feelings. Obama’s a lot better than most Democrats in the Senate today, and by and large he is a force of good. But I’m not enthusiastic about him running for President anymore.
November 28th, 2006 at 11:56 am
Wow, three doors away?
Well, I guess I am not a fan of Hillary and Obama still inspires me. I do like John Edwards too. His speech at the Local 2 rally last spring was fantastic.
Those two (Edwards and Obama) give me hope that we might win in 2008.
November 28th, 2006 at 1:35 pm
I have to agree with Paul on this one. Not the living three doors away thing, but the disenchantment with Obama. He has refused every chance to take moral leadership on things like torture. Instead, he’s spent plenty of time chastising Democrats for lacking “faith” and forcing “people of faith” to “leave their faith at the door when they enter the public square.”
All this while people are being tortured by our government, the teaching of science is under attack, and thousands of Americans (and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis) are dying in the Middle East.
Until Obama takes leadership on issues that really affect the American people and the world, he can stay senator, and should.
November 28th, 2006 at 2:45 pm
Uncle. Sigh.
November 29th, 2006 at 10:52 am
C’mon, nobody’s perfect, and certainly not a Democratic presidential candidate. Bill Clinton was just awful in lots of ways (remember Sister Souljah, Lani Guinier, Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, welfare “reform”), but he was a Democratic president and with all his flaws, was about a bazillion times better than than the Bushes. And the sad reality is that the things that were offensive to lots of us made him palatable to enough people to get elected. So . . . if Hillary has to be a “tough liberal” who loves the military and the flag to get elected, I’m willing to forgive her. And if Obama has to make sweet love to the Christians to get elected, I’m willing to forgive him that too. Whatever their sins, Hillary, Obama, or Edwards would all do a better job of keeping us out of wars, protecting our liberties, and caring for the weakest, sickest and poorest among us than John McCain. So I say they should all run and run hard, and whichever of them wins the nomination will be an awesome (and in the case of Hillary or Obama, a history-making and history-redeeming) president.
November 29th, 2006 at 9:39 pm
Anybody read the latest piece in Harper’s magazine exposing corporate and Wall Street financiers behind the “selling of Barack Obama”? After reading Ken Silverstein’s critical assessment, I purposely listened, again, to my Malcolm X, Martin Luther King and Fannie Lou Hamer tapes and checked out the Black Radical Congress website in order to keep proper perspective on how Obama ain’t the real deal, and never will be. Damn I miss the Panthers, the National Black Independent Party of the 1980s’, and the Mississippi Freedom Party of the 60s’!
December 1st, 2006 at 1:05 pm
I read the Harper’s article too, and listened to some interviews with him when his book came out, and agree with Sasha etc. that he’s way too moderate & business-appeasing for my taste (any friend of Archer Daniels Midland is no friend of mine). Nonetheless, I think he’d be a great VP to John Edwards…
December 1st, 2006 at 3:03 pm
I’ll check out the article. Thanks.
December 5th, 2006 at 12:52 pm
Using the phrase “drank the Kool Aid” to illustrate an enthusiasm for a charismatic leader seems to be gaining in popularity recently. This isn’t the first time I’ve heard someone use it in this way, but as a native San Franciscan, I gotta say I think it is in very poor taste. You’re an intelligent person, I’m sure you are aware that it’s a reference to the sad fate of the followers of Jim Jones–some of whom committed suicide as a result of their misguided loyalty to him, and some of whom were killed because they tried to refuse the Kool Aid. It was one of the most tragic days in San Francisco history. Some of us are still grieving for those lost friends. I’m sure you didn’t mean to make light of a tragedy, but think a little before you use that phrase in a semi-comic way next time.
December 5th, 2006 at 5:25 pm
Thanks for your comment. It is a fair critique and I don’t mean to make light of the trajedy.
February 9th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
Obama supporters are scary. In their eyes he is their savior and will lead them to the promised land….
Scary………….
February 9th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
Hey Janelle,
Personally attacking his supporters is not a sucessful strategy on this blog. Take it somewhere else. Have fun with the fact that it is a horse race. Making negative, sweeping generalizations that are factually untrue will get you nowhere.
February 9th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
So who is the candidate for those of you who think Obama is a sellout?
February 9th, 2008 at 9:52 pm
I was with Edwards, but now I am with Obama. Most Edwards supporters are now going with Obama. I think Edwards and Obama were splitting the progressive vote, but now that Edwards has dropped out, the progressive vote is unifying behind Obama. This particular blog that Janelle commented on was from November 2006. I think Paul has come full circle on this one. I don’t know about Sasha or others.
October 23rd, 2008 at 11:26 pm
“No Thanks…keep the CHANGE…I will keep my dollars. That way…I can CHOOSE who I spread MY wealth to.”
McCain 08