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| US Senator Barack Obama launches White House bid |
| 2007-01-17 |
| US Senator Barack Obama launched a presidential campaign that could make him the first black to occupy the White House, and he immediately tried to turn his political inexperience into an asset with voters seeking change. The freshman Illinois senator - and top contender for the Democratic nomination - said Tuesday the past six years have left the country in a precarious place, and he promoted himself as the standard-bearer for a new kind of politics. "Our leaders in Washington seem incapable of working together in a practical, commonsense way," Obama said in a video posted on his Web site. "Politics has become so bitter and partisan, so gummed up by money and influence, that we can't tackle the big problems that demand solutions. And that's what we have to change first." Obama, whose father was Kenyan, filed paperwork forming a presidential exploratory committee that allows him to raise money and put together a campaign structure. He is expected to announce his candidacy on Feb. 10 in Springfield, Illinois, where he can tout his experience in the state legislature and tap into the legacy of hometown hero, President Abraham Lincoln. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #20 I would put money on this guy having a public blow up. And, I would put money on the Clintons having something to do with it. The Republicans aren't going to sink this guy, the Clintons are. Unless he's really positioning for a VP spot. A Clinton/Hussein ticket could be trouble. |
| Posted by: Mike N. 2007-01-17 21:11 |
| #19 I don't know what to make of him yet. I saw him on camera talking about race issues some time ago; he seemed to find a moderate "sweet spot" that could prove very persuasive to the electorate and very devastating to the Pubs in 08. At times, he has a silver tongue. That said, I don't know what his core principles are. I still think most Americans want to "check the gears" and make sure the candidate is sound. This is not meant as an accusation against him, just as a query: I wonder if he might be rattled easily. He might really shine in a debate, but what if he hit a rough spot in the spotlight? Could he weather it? I think of that off-record exchange between him and Maurren Dowd, and then I think of the types of challenges that face a president, and I begin to have doubts about his composure. He certainly has star quality and a silver tongue. I would love to see some rigorous debates. I was trying to picture who he would run against. Pubs better pick someone with star quality, too, who can reach that same slice of the moderate electorate, or they risk losing their last bastion of power in the government. |
| Posted by: Jules 2007-01-17 20:58 |
| #18 If Mitt Romney is having the problems that currently plague him being a Mormon, the truth about Obama's religious past and present (he was raised Muslim and atheist and he's a Clinton/Carter kumbaya false Christian) will be the kiss of death in the general election (although it may help him in the Dem primaries, dominated as they are by anti-Christian bigots). |
| Posted by: no mo uro 2007-01-17 20:06 |
| #17 Mark Levin recognized Barack as the male Oprah Winfrey. :) |
| Posted by: Phineter Thraviger 2007-01-17 19:20 |
| #16 Obama does have the advantage of being one of the few Democratic candidates who is not overtly insane. That'll hurt him a lot in the primaries. |
| Posted by: DMFD 2007-01-17 18:28 |
| #15 So what you basically have here is a state rep that thinks he can be president, right? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2007-01-17 16:17 |
| #14 He's a socialist, a gun-grabber and the Great White Hope. He votes w/Dickie Durbin, the MSM will bury his record. |
| Posted by: anonymous2u 2007-01-17 15:57 |
| #13 Barack Hussein Obama, if you please... It doesn't get better than this! |
| Posted by: BigEd 2007-01-17 15:05 |
| #12 Wait till he has to debate Rudy or Newt. Only the complete idiots will think Obama still has a brain. But complete idiots always vote donky, so little change there. |
| Posted by: wxjames 2007-01-17 12:31 |
| #11 He smiles like Jimmy Carter. His smile is 100% plastic. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2007-01-17 11:49 |
| #10 The image of Big Brother personified. An empty suit with little or no real experience being hyped as a solution to every or any problem. It's all about show and power, nothing about substance. What better definition of the Donk party? |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2007-01-17 11:35 |
| #9 Obama is an empty suit. Senators don't usually make it through the primaries - it's the governers and house leeches you need to watch for. |
| Posted by: JerseyMike 2007-01-17 11:01 |
| #8 Bigjim-He's a ringer all right, but for the Illinois political machine (includes both Dems and Reps). I also fear that the timing may be "right" for him as it was for Carter in 1976. God save us. |
| Posted by: Spot 2007-01-17 08:25 |
| #7 There's something about that dude that unsettles me. I don't trust him, I don't think I ever will. He has a look and attitude that make me think he is bullshitting us about his real objectives. I can't help but suspect he is a ringer for the muslims or something, trying to come in under the radar. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2007-01-17 08:03 |
| #6 Pass. Men on white horses generally have a trail of horseshit behind 'em. |
| Posted by: mojo 2007-01-17 02:49 |
| #5 THE VIEW > Babs Walters? = the Amer people know its always better to be on top, not the bottom = below those making decisions, and that once in higher income/position Amers prefer to stay that way. The ladies + many in audience applauded in consensus. Iff one believes THE VIEW to be of the Left, then these comments show that the Left is well-aware that it no longer stands for social improvement/justice nor "progress", but for ELITISM = POWER. IMO the ladies all but officially admitted that Leftism = anti-Bushism is about Power, AND NOTHING ELSE. CAN "TALK THE TALK", BUT DON'T "WALK THE WALK" OF SOCIAL JUSTICE, RQUALISM, OR PROGRESS, ETC. BUT THAT THEY "GET THEIRS". Its about selfishly taking what they can get at the expense of others, any and all ways they can get it. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2007-01-17 02:10 |
| #4 Is it possible that America will kill a guy named Hussein one day, then vote for a guy named Hussein less then two years later? I have to think the subconscious comes into play here. |
| Posted by: Mike N. 2007-01-17 01:21 |
| #3 That's all it takes to be a Democratic front-runner nowadays. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2007-01-17 01:00 |
| #2 Obama does have the advantage of being one of the few Democratic candidates who is not overtly insane. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2007-01-17 00:42 |
| #1 Met him during one of his Baghdad visits. Nice enough guy, but no sale. Might make a nice minor cabinet secretary to some older (though perhaps equally unimpressive) Dem prez. Only fear is that the WH's silence and the media's hysteria will leave a 2008 landscape where a truly disastrous choice by the electorate is plausible. |
| Posted by: Verlaine 2007-01-17 00:21 |