The 2008 Campaign has begun

[Poofler]

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Can someone explain what is so progressive about Obama? I don't know much about the man besides that he is suddenly the Democrat everyone loves to love.

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When you hear him speak, he comes across as very intelligent, rational, and charismatic. He has a lot of the appeal Clinton did. On the issues, he's cut from the liberal cloth pretty well. If he were white and 50+, every Democrat would be jizzing at the chance to nominate him for President.

Obama on the Issues

[4 High]

I hope Vilsack gets nowhere near either nomination, the man is as boring as corn. Bayh, Obama, Gore, Clinton and Edwards are the only real candidates i see being able to win the P nomination.

[Annies_Beaver]

Is Schumer a viable presidential candidate? He seems intelligent and is a good speaker. Although I'd rather see a Republican win the presidency, if it had to be a Democrat, he would be right up there with any of the other possible candidates in my opinion.

[disjunction]

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Can someone explain what is so progressive about Obama? I don't know much about the man besides that he is suddenly the Democrat everyone loves to love.

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It was his speech at Kerry's convention that put him on the map. Ever since Clinton, all Democratic speeches have had this theme of bribing the voters by giving each individual interest some kind of cookie. Instead of doing this, Obama defended liberalism in a way that everybody on the left wing had been dying to hear for 20 years, by appealing to the community. The quote below from the transcript is probably what did it:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politic...ech-text_x.htm

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A belief that we are connected as one people. If there's a child on the south side of Chicago who can't read, that matters to me, even if it's not my child. If there's a senior citizen somewhere who can't pay for her prescription and has to choose between medicine and the rent, that makes my life poorer, even if it's not my grandmother. If there's an Arab American family being rounded up without benefit of an attorney or due process, that threatens my civil liberties. It's that fundamental belief — I am my brother's keeper, I am my sister's keeper — that makes this country work. It's what allows us to pursue our individual dreams, yet still come together as a single American family. "E pluribus unum." Out of many, one.



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[Redmen62]

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A belief that we are connected as one people. If there's a child on the south side of Chicago who can't read, that matters to me, even if it's not my child. If there's a senior citizen somewhere who can't pay for her prescription and has to choose between medicine and the rent, that makes my life poorer, even if it's not my grandmother. If there's an Arab American family being rounded up without benefit of an attorney or due process, that threatens my civil liberties. It's that fundamental belief — I am my brother's keeper, I am my sister's keeper — that makes this country work. It's what allows us to pursue our individual dreams, yet still come together as a single American family. "E pluribus unum." Out of many, one.



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I still get chills just reading the text. Made me want to campaign for the guy, and I don't even live in the same country.

[JackOfSpeed]

Good list in the original post. A few points: First, I have it on good authority from a second-hand source (but a pretty good one) that Gore will not run in 2008. Second, the likelihood of Obama winning the Dem nomination is much higher than most people currently realize.

And third, I think McCain will be very, very tough to beat on the Republican side of things, since it's pretty clear that 2008 will be, as most prez elections are, about who can best market themsleves to the ideological middle of the electorate. People also for some reason perceive him as independent of the political disaster that the GOP has become over the last year. Unfortunately, McCain stated last month that he planned to commit suicide if the Dems won the Senate, so I guess we can scratch him off the list after all.

[Nate tha\\\' Great]

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Second, the likelihood of Obama winning the Dem nomination is much higher than most people currently realize.

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Is this also based on insider info?

Personally, it would not surprise me one bit if Obama ran. Could be one hell of a cat fight between he and Hillary, though.

[BluffTHIS!]

Whoever runs for the democrat nomination should realize that any repub nominee, especially McCain or Giuliani, is not going to defend Bush's record totally, so will have to be able to matchup against whatever platform that repub uses. Also, someone like Obama or Hillary is coming from a home state almost assured of going democrat regardless of who the candidate is, so that is kind of a negative unless they have a VP from a swing or southern state. If I were a democrat, I would be wanting Evan Bayh to be the candidate.

[ElliotR]

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Whoever runs for the democrat nomination should realize that any repub nominee, especially McCain or Giuliani, is not going to defend Bush's record totally, so will have to be able to matchup against whatever platform that repub uses. Also, someone like Obama or Hillary is coming from a home state almost assured of going democrat regardless of who the candidate is, so that is kind of a negative unless they have a VP from a swing or southern state. If I were a democrat, I would be wanting Evan Bayh to be the candidate.

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Note to self: Oppose Bayh at all costs.

[BluffTHIS!]

Note to self: our masterful plan is working. All we have to do is to tout the democrats with the best chance of beating any repub candidates, and the dems will think something is wrong with such persons and nominate the typical east coast/northern ultra-lib we run best against.