Obama '08?

Actually, the way I'd been considering the particulars of our big money wager, the above outcome would be a loss for me.

Thanks, thomas.

Lots of interesting bits in that piece. Here's one that surprised even me...

blatham, There seems to be a whole lot of mixed messages from the republican side; when polls are taken to support Bush, they're usually the majority - like over 60 percent. Doesn't seem like those 13 percent means much for the right side - although there's no contradiction in the math.

I hope He saved the receipt.

Great potential dialogue here between God and a returns-counter cleark, but I'm too lazy to write it this morning.

If Bush is an example of that "gift" from god, I prefer not to have the "gift."

Here's Obama dealing with the "Black Enough?" talk....
One significant thing is that he's speaking to a standing-room only crowd of black journalists. Another is that he put his finger on something that's very true in a lot of cases - the general distrust black folks have of a black candidate who appeals to white people...

Interesting stuff. Have I mentioned I like this guy?


"What it really does is really lay bare, I think, that we're still locked in this notion that if you appeal to white folks then there must be something wrong," he said, adding it's the same sort of suspicion many blacks face when they attend a predominately white Ivy League institution.



http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2007/08/11/obama-enough-with-the-%e2%80%98black-enough%e2%80%99-talk/

Hey, that's good to see. Thanks for posting it, snood.

(I love to see him do the candid stuff. I think his campaign staff is a bit scared of it, and maybe they should be, but I'd love to see more of it.)

Obama says Bush not solely to blame By AMY LORENTZEN, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 47 minutes ago



CEDAR FALLS, Iowa - Not all the nation's ills can be blamed on President Bush, Democratic candidate Barack Obama said Wednesday as he called on Americans to change the nature of politics and institute more openness in government.

"Part of the problem here is not just George Bush and the White House," Obama told a crowd of hundreds gathered at a park in Cedar Falls. "We can't just change political parties and continue to do the same kind of things we've been doing. We can't just go about business as usual and think it's going to turn out differently."

Obama, a senator from Illinois, said average Americans must be brought back to the table when dealing with every issue, from health care to education to trade.

"We've got to make sure workers are represented, not just CEOs. We've got to make sure patients are represented and the nurses are represented, not just drug companies," he said.

To make the government more accountable, Obama said he would post all non-emergency bills online for five days before he signed them into law, allowing Americans a chance to weigh in on the legislation. In addition, he said he would post all meetings between lobbyists and government agencies online.

Obama said he would require Cabinet officials to speak to Americans via national broadband town-hall style meetings to discuss issues at their agencies. He also pledged to issue an executive order that information about the government's operations must be released to those seeking it unless it could harm a protected interest.

Obama cited his record of backing ethics and lobbying reforms, including co-authoring a bill that requires all government spending to be posted online ?- allowing anyone to do a simple Internet search and find that information. He said that during his time as a state lawmaker he helped to create hospital report cards so that patients could understand the quality of care offered at each hospital.

___

On the Net:

Obama '08: http://www.barackobama.com/

Now, there's some damn fine propositions.

Will Obama become a Republican and run against Clinton?

What makes you think he'd get through to god? As you've seen on Mr. Deity, His voicemail is already swamped with prayers, most of them spam such as "Lawd, we thank you for our fewd". No way he could handle complaints like Joe's.

Joe would be lucky if his complaint got re-routed to God's call center in India.

Now, that was funny! LOL

I agree, jp, and I'm wondering if the downward trends are a reflection of some Indy-types like you and me becoming less enamored. I've heard about his war stance and her votes all I care to. He needs a new song.

My ongoing problem with the Obama campaign strategy, and the highlighted policy proposals above, is that focusing everything onto the Internet does not reach the "average citizen." There are a lot of people who can't afford to purchase/choose not to use computers, or can't purchase broadband at $50 a month, or who are sight impaired, hearing impaired, or just unable to understand how to use them. The Obama campaign strategy and policy proposals will not reach those Obama has targeted if they are soley based upon uploading video feeds to the internet. They have to also ensure transcripts are available on the internet, and videos are published offline for those without access to local libraries with computers and internet access or don't have high-speed access.

It's a keen strategy to make use of the internet to allow some grassroot sunshine into government and campaign processes, but he needs to take it further than he's proposing to accomplish his goal. To do otherwise, just makes new layers of access boundaries in society, and does not remove them.

I'd like to see him get behind the free wireless broadband Internet service project for everywhere in the U.S. currently being rejected by the FCC for very stupid reasons. More on that here.

For anyone who does not have cable or satelite TV access and hasn't seen a Democratic debate yet this year, on Sunday there is a live (taped) 90-minute debate with the Democratic presidential contenders on a special edition of "This Week With George Stephanopoulos."

The candidates: Senator Joe Biden, D-Del., Senator Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., Senator Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., Former Senator John Edwards, D-N.C., Former Senator Mike Gravel, D-Alaska, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, Senator Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Governor Bill Richardson, D-N.M.


Appears to be airing at all different times in most areas, between 8AM and noon so check your listings.. Hopefully George will do a much better job of moderating and asking quality questions than he has for debates in the past.

Obama - a striking name. We talked about it before, and considered it a non-issue. But: How will Obama play with the Idget voter? :wink:

Obama defends himself against rivals By MIKE GLOVER, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 5 minutes ago



Democrat Barack Obama on Sunday accused his presidential rivals of political maneuvering for saying he lacks experience and he insisted he could handle the rigors of international diplomacy.

The candidates began their latest debate by critiquing the freshman senator's recent comments on Pakistan and whether he would meet with foreign leaders ?- including North Korea's head of state ?- without conditions.

"To prepare for this debate I rode in the bumper cars at the state fair," the Illinois lawmaker said to laughter and applause from the audience at Drake University.

The debate capped an intense week of politicking in Iowa, an early voting state in the process of picking a nominee. The Iowa State Fair is a magnet for White House hopefuls each presidential election. This year was no exception, especially for Democrats who swept into the state after a GOP straw poll last week.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said she and Obama disagreed over how to conduct international relations with leaders who have been foes of the United States. Obama said at an earlier debate that he would have no qualms about sitting down with leaders of renegade nations such as Cuba, North Korea and Iran.

"I do not think that a president should give away the bargaining chip of a personal meeting with any leader unless you know what you are going to get out of that," the New York senator and former first lady said.

Obama also has said he would send U.S. troops into Pakistan if the president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, failed to act on specific intelligence about terrorists. The U.S. intelligence director has said he thinks Sept. 11 mastermind Osama bin Liden is living in the border region of Pakistan, and Musharraf's attempt to broker a political solution with tribes had backfired by giving al-Qaida room to regroup.

Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., directly addressing a question about Obama's relative inexperience, said: "You're not going to have time in January of '09 to get ready for this job." Dodd has served in Congress for more than 30 years.

Former Sen. John Edwards said Obama's opinions "add something to this debate." But Edwards, the 2004 vice presidential nominee, said politicians who aspire to be president should not talk about hypothetical solutions to serious problems.

"It effectively limits your options," Edwards said, drawing agreement from one rival, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson agreed.

In response, Obama said: "This is part of what I think Americans get frustrated about in politics where we have gamesmanship and we manufacture issues and controversies instead of talking about the serious problems that we have."

Who won the debate? Nobody.

Who lost the debate? It is a tie between the moderator's questioning and voters looking for substantive information on all the candidates.



Here's a link to the transcript of the "debate" for those who were fortunate to have missed it.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Decision2008/story?id=3498294&page=1

Thanks for the warning, Butrflynet. I might have clicked on the link without it.