Obama '08?

It's the first time I've tried to listen to him at any length. He impresses me as someone totally impressed with his own importance in the scheme of things, and also pretty clueless.

snood wrote:

It's the first time I've tried to listen to him at any length. He impresses me as someone totally impressed with his own importance in the scheme of things, and also pretty clueless.

Have you applied the same yardstick to the other Democrat candidates, snood?

I would have to say the same thing about Hillary. And Obama seems like he is sort of searching for the right place to stand on things. I'm not sure he knows. And the enthusiasm seems to be waning. And surely he should have known 10,000 people did not die in Greensburg? Is he that engaged into what is actually happening out there?

Until we are down to only 3 or 4 candidates,the polls will be,IMHO,useless but interesting bits of trivia.

The framing in the story bothers me a bit though -- the guy just decided to become president a few months ago, couldn't it just have taken him that long to come up with this plan?

Obama Leads Four Republicans in U.S. Race
May 29, 2007
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Democrat Barack Obama is the top 2008 presidential contender in the United States, according to a poll by Zogby International. At least 46 per cent of respondents would support the Illinois senator in head-to-head contests against four prospective Republican nominees.

Obama holds a three-point edge over Arizona senator John McCain, a six-point lead over former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, and a 17-point advantage over both former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and actor and former Tennessee senator Fred Thompson.

In other contests, both New York senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and former North Carolina senator John Edwards lead Romney and Thompson, but trail Giuliani and McCain. New Mexico governor Bill Richardson is virtually tied with Thompson, leads Romney by three points, and trails Giuliani and McCain.

On May 27, Obama pledged to provide proper assistance for active duty soldiers, declaring, "We're falling far short in addressing the mental health care needs of these heroes, and that's inexcusable. I believe strongly that there is a sacred trust between this country and those who serve it. That trust begins the moment a service member signs on and lasts the duration of his or her life."

In American elections, candidates require 270 votes in the Electoral College to win the White House. In November 2004, Republican George W. Bush earned a second term after securing 286 electoral votes from 31 states. Democratic nominee John Kerry received 252 electoral votes from 19 states and the District of Columbia.

Bush is ineligible for a third term in office. The next presidential election is scheduled for November 2008.

Polling Data

Possible match-ups - 2008 U.S. presidential election

Rudy Giuliani (R) 42% - 48% Barack Obama (D)
John McCain (R) 43% - 46% Barack Obama (D)
Mitt Romney (R) 35% - 52% Barack Obama (D)
Fred Thompson (R) 35% - 52% Barack Obama (D)

Rudy Giuliani (R) 48% - 43% Hillary Rodham Clinton (D)
John McCain (R) 47% - 43% Hillary Rodham Clinton (D)
Mitt Romney (R) 40% - 48% Hillary Rodham Clinton (D)
Fred Thompson (R) 41% - 48% Hillary Rodham Clinton (D)

Rudy Giuliani (R) 47% - 43% John Edwards (D)
John McCain (R) 46% - 41% John Edwards (D)
Mitt Romney (R) 36% - 50% John Edwards (D)
Fred Thompson (R) 40% - 48% John Edwards (D)

Rudy Giuliani (R) 50% - 35% Bill Richardson (D)
John McCain (R) 52% - 31% Bill Richardson (D)
Mitt Romney (R) 37% - 40% Bill Richardson (D)
Fred Thompson (R) 40% - 39% Bill Richardson (D)

Source: Zogby International
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 378 likely Republican voters, conducted from May 17 to May 20, 2007. Margin of error is 5.0 per cent.

New poll. Doesn't look good for the Republicans. Guess all that macho war talk isn't selling these days.

Here are some highlights from Barack's health care speech today. We'll have more info on the website soon.


Barack Obama believes it's time to make quality affordable health care a reality for every American. For too many years, we've seen health care plans offered up with great fanfare and promise, only to be crushed under the weight of Washington politics and industry lobbying. This cannot be one of those years.



The health care crisis has reached a critical point. It's not just that forty-five million Americans are uninsured. It's that those who do have health insurance are struggling to pay for it because health care premiums have risen nearly 90% in the past six years, four times faster than wages.



Businesses aren't faring much better. Over half of all small businesses can no longer afford to insure their workers, while others have responded to rising costs by laying off workers or shutting their doors. Some of our biggest corporations are watching foreign competitors based in countries with universal health care run circles around them.



The biggest obstacles to reform are the drug and insurance companies who profit most from the status quo. Recently, the single fastest growing component of health care spending has been administrative costs and profits for insurance companies, who have spent more than $1 billion on lobbying and campaign contributions over the last ten years to block the kind of reform we need.



As President, Barack Obama will turn the page on yesterday's health care debates and bring together businesses, the medical community, and members of both parties around a comprehensive solution to this crisis. And he'll let the drug and insurance industries know that while they'll get a seat at the table, they don't get to buy every chair.



Barack Obama will sign a universal health care plan into law by the end of his first term in office. His plan will not just guarantee coverage for every American, it will bring down the cost of health care and reduce every family's premiums by as much as $2500.



When Barack Obama is President, everyone will be able buy into a new health insurance plan that's similar to the one that every federal employee - from a postal worker to a Congressman - currently has for themselves. And if you cannot afford this insurance, you will receive a subsidy to pay for it. If you have children, they will be covered. If you change jobs, your insurance will go with you. If you need to see a doctor, you will not have to wait in long lines for one. If you want more choices, you will also have the option of purchasing a number of affordable private plans that have similar benefits and standards for quality and efficiency.



We'll also take five, long-overdue steps to bring down costs and bring our health care system into the 21st century. First, the federal government will pick up the tab for some of the most expensive illnesses and conditions, which means your premiums will go down. Second, we'll focus our health care system on preventing costly, debilitating conditions in the first place by requiring coverage of evidence-based, preventative care services, and making sure they are paid for.



Third, we'll reduce the cost of our health care by improving the quality of our health care. We'll ask hospitals and providers to collect, track, and publicly report measures of health care quality so that patients can make informed choices about the care that's best for them.



Fourth, we'll reduce waste and inefficiency by moving from a 20th century health care industry based on pen and paper to a 21st century industry that's paperless, reducing deadly medical errors, shortening the length of hospital stays, ensuring that nurses can spend less time on paperwork and more time with patients, and saving billions and billions of dollars in the process.



Finally, we'll break the stranglehold that a few big drug and insurance companies have on the health care market. Under Barack Obama's plan, we'll make generic drugs more available to consumers and we'll tell the drug companies that their days of forcing affordable prescription drugs out of the market are over. And we'll investigate and prosecute the monopolization of the insurance industry.

May 28 - June 3, 2007


Barack Obama Schedule: Barack Obama spent the weekend traveling with his family in northern New Hampshire in an RV. A segment about his New Hampshire trip will appear on The Today Show on Tuesday morning. Throughout the weekend, he met with veterans, hosted town hall meetings, and even fit in time for an ice cream social. He will return to Iowa Monday night for a meeting with veterans before delivering his health care speech on Tuesday morning at the University of Iowa Medical Campus - a speech in which he'll lay out his plan to make quality affordable health care a reality for every American.

Later this week, he will do a west coast swing with stops in Reno and Las Vegas, Nevada and Oakland, California. He will wrap up the week in Manchester, NH where he will participate in the CNN/WMUR debate on Sunday evening.

Michelle Obama Schedule: Michelle Obama campaigned with her husband on Sunday and Monday in the north country of New Hampshire and has no public events until Saturday when she'll return to New Hampshire on her own to address the New Hampshire Democratic Convention. She'll also kick off Women for Obama in New Hampshire, accompanied by her daughters.

Veterans: Barack Obama believes there's a sacred trust between this country and those who serve it. That's why he has a comprehensive plan to meet the lifetime mental health needs of America's veterans. With cases of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) sharply on the rise, Senator Obama is proposing key improvements <http> to mental health care at each stage of military service: recruitment, deployment, and reentry into civilian life.


Iraq: Last week, Barack Obama voted against President Bush's supplemental war spending bill to demand a change of course in the Iraq war - which he opposed from the start and believes should never have been authorized and never been waged. He believes we must negotiate a better plan that funds our troops, signals to the Iraqis that it is time for them to act and that begins to bring our brave servicemen and women home safely and responsibly.

Barack Obama has a plan to end the war by commencing a phased redeployment of U.S. troops out of Iraq with the goal of redeploying all combat brigades from Iraq by March 31, 2008. Letting the Iraqis know that U.S. forces will not be there forever is our last, best hope to pressure the Sunnis and Shi'a to come to the table and find peace.

Immigration: In the U.S. Senate, Barack Obama is working to fix the immigration bill that's before Congress by fighting to make sure it values families and protects Americans and legal immigrants from errors in government databases that could cost them their jobs. He's also working to restructure the temporary worker program in the bill so that it does not drive down wages and working conditions.

It looks as if Obama has worked out his plan for universal health care.

[b]Obama calls for universal health care [/b] By MIKE GLOVER, Associated Press Writer [...] A copy of his remarks and documents describing the program were obtained by The Associated Press.

Obama's plan doesn't have the mandate that his rival John Edwards is proposing to ensure that all Americans get coverage. The 2004 Democratic vice presidential nominee would require everyone to have health insurance, much like state requirements for auto insurance for every driver. Both candidates would require businesses to help cover their workers.

Obama's going to unveil a health-care plan soon. Judging by the AP story, his plan will rely largely on individual mandates (with subsidies for low-income workers), presumably something similar to what Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed in California, although obviously we'll have to wait to hear the gritty details.

Update: Hmm... this AP update suggests that Obama won't have a "mandate... to ensure that all Americans get coverage." That's pretty weak.

(Does Hillary even have a detailed plan out yet for health care? I know Edwards does, but I'm not sure about her.)

New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who oversaw a massive but unsuccessful project to overhaul the nation's health care system while she was first lady, has promised universal health care but has yet to provide specifics.

• What are these individual mandates?

• How does their absence make Obama's proposal "pretty weak"?

• Do I read this correctly as meaning that Obama's proposal is actually weaker than Schwarzenegger's California proposal?