Barack Obama In "08"?

[Bong30]

You dont vote for spite Bill....come on.

then we have hillary....think about it.

[Fengzi]

You dont vote for spite Bill....come on.

then we have hillary....think about it.

Tell that to all the folks who voted for Dubya the first time around.

You vote for someone who can do the job.

My point exactly :thumbsup:

[Psycho4Bud]

Well the poll has closed and by one vote it was decided that Obama would be better than Hillary.......Imagine that.

Have a good one!:thumbsup:

[Breukelen advocaat]

What Obama isn't: black like me
by Stanley Crouch

If Barack Obama makes it all the way to becoming the Democratic nominee for President in 2008, a feat he says he may attempt, a much more complex understanding of the difference between color and ethnic identity will be upon us for the very first time.

Back in 2004, Alan Keyes made this point quite often. Keyes was the black Republican carpetbagger chosen by the elephants to run against Obama for the U.S. Senate seat from Illinois. The choice of Keyes was either a Republican version of affirmative action or an example of just how dumb the party believes black voters to be, since it was obvious that Keyes came from the Southeast, not the Midwest.

That race was never much of a contest, but one fascinating subplot was how Keyes was unable to draw a meaningful distinction between himself as a black American and Obama as an African-American. After all, Obama's mother is of white U.S. stock. His father is a black Kenyan. Other than color, Obama did not - does not - share a heritage with the majority of black Americans, who are descendants of plantation slaves.

Of course, the idea that one would be a better or a worse representative of black Americans depending upon his or her culture or ethnic group is clearly absurd. Even slavery itself initially came under fire from white Christians - the first of whom to separate themselves from the institution were Quakers. The majority of the Union troops were white, and so were those who have brought about the most important civil rights legislation.

Why then do we still have such a simple-minded conception of black and white - and how does it color the way we see Obama? The naive ideas coming out of Pan-Africanism are at the root of the confusion. When Pan-African ideas began to take shape in the 19th century, all black people, regardless of where in the world they lived, suffered and shared a common body of injustices. Europe, after all, had colonized much of the black world, and the United States had enslaved people of African descent for nearly 250 years.

Suffice it to say: This is no longer the case.

So when black Americans refer to Obama as "one of us," I do not know what they are talking about. In his new book, "The Audacity of Hope," Obama makes it clear that, while he has experienced some light versions of typical racial stereotypes, he cannot claim those problems as his own - nor has he lived the life of a black American.

Will this matter in the end? Probably not. Obama is being greeted with the same kind of public affection that Colin Powell had when he seemed ready to knock Bill Clinton out of the Oval Office. For many reasons, most of them personal, Powell did not become the first black American to be a serious presidential contender.

I doubt Obama will share Powell's fate, but if he throws his hat in the ring, he will have to run as the son of a white woman and an African immigrant. If we then end up with him as our first black President, he will have come into the White House through a side door - which might, at this point, be the only one that's open.

Originally published on November 2, 2006 - Stanley Crouch
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/idea...p-393261c.html
Stanley Crouch is a columnist, novelist, essayist, critic and television commentator. He has served since 1987 as an artistic consultant at Lincoln Center and is a co-founder of the department known as Jazz at Lincoln Center. In 1993, he received both the Jean Stein Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and a MacArthur Foundation grant. He is now working on a biography of Charlie Parker.

[BlueCat00]

This is why Obama should be president. Please read and I am sure you will agree. Among other things I trust Obama to turn the eyes of our nation to Darfur and the 200,000 people that are dying a day. We need to join the rest of the world in helping these people.
This is where our nation should be focused and not on the fabricated war for oil that is killing our young americans. This would restore the honor America. If you don't know this man please take the time to learn.

Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii to Barack Hussein Obama, Sr. of Nyangoma-Kogelo, Siaya District, Kenya, ( if you are against a man because of his name you are truly ignorant)

Obama has lived in africa and also india. He has more international diplomacy than Bush could ever dream of.


Obama has written several books in his first one, he is very honest which is more than I can say for most politicians Obama writes about smoking marijuana and trying cocaine during his teenage years Inviting journalists to contrast his earlier admission with Bill Clinton's "didn't inhale" remarks made during the 1992 presidential campaign, Obama recently stated: "I inhaledâ??that was the point." <--- you gotta love that!

Obama studied for two years at Occidental College, before transferring to Columbia College, an undergraduate division of Columbia University. There he majored in political science, with a specialization in international relations. Upon graduation in 1983, Obama worked for one year at Business International Corporation before moving to Chicago and taking a job with a non-profit organization helping local churches organize job training programs for residents of poor neighborhoods.

Obama then left Chicago for three years to study at Harvard Law School. He was elected president of the Harvard Law Review, obtaining his Juris Doctor degree, magna cum laude, in 1991. On returning to Chicago, Obama supported a voter registration drive, then worked for the civil rights law firm Miner, Barnhill and Galland, and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School
I just don't understand anyone saying he has no experience! He is brilliant.

In 1996, Obama was elected to the Illinois State Senate from the 13th District in the south side neighborhood of Hyde Park, in Chicago. In January 2003, Democrats regained control of the chamber, and Sen. Obama was named chairman of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee.

Obama helped to author an Earned Income Tax Credit for the state that provided benefits to the working poor. He also worked for legislation that would cover residents who could not afford health insurance, and helped pass bills to increase funding for AIDS prevention and care programs.

Obama authored a law requiring police to videotape interrogations for crimes punishable by the death penalty. He also pushed through legislation that would force insurance companies to cover routine mammograms.

After describing his maternal grandfather's experiences as a World War II veteran and a beneficiary of the New Deal's FHA and GI Bill programs, Obama said:

No, people don't expect government to solve all their problems. But they sense, deep in their bones, that with just a slight change in priorities, we can make sure that every child in America has a decent shot at life, and that the doors of opportunity remain open to all. They know we can do better. And they want that choice.

He also said: When we send our young men and women into harm's way, we have a solemn obligation not to fudge the numbers or shade the truth about why they're going, to care for their families while they're gone, to tend to the soldiers upon their return, and to never ever go to war without enough troops to win the war, secure the peace, and earn the respect of the world.

Obama's public profile continued to climb through 2005 and 2006. TIME magazine named Obama one of "the world's most influential people," listing him among twenty "Leaders and Revolutionaries" for his high-profile entrance to federal politics and his popularity within the Democratic Party. An October 2005 article in the British journal New Statesman listed Obama as one of "10 people who could change the world." During his first two years in the Senate, Obama received Honorary Doctorates of Law from Knox College, University of Massachusetts Boston, Northwestern University, and Xavier University of Louisiana <---- that makes 5 PhDs! His intelligence is astonding!

In April 2005, Obama sponsored his first Senate bill, the "Higher Education Opportunity through Pell Grant Expansion Act", Entered in fulfillment of a campaign promise to help needy students pay their college tuitions, <---- he keeps his promises.

Obama was a co-sponsor of the "Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act", introduced by Sen. John McCain
Obama also supported a later revision, the "Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act", passed by the Senate on May 25, 2006. He offered three amendments that were included in the bill passed by the Senate: (1) to protect American workers against unfair job competition from guest workers; (2) require employer verification of their employees' legal immigration status through improved verification systems; and (3) fund improvements in FBI background checks of immigrants applying for U.S. citizenship.

Obama is among the first national politicians to actively engage the public through new Internet communication tools. In late 2005, he began podcasting from his U.S. Senate official web site. It has been reported that Obama responds to and has personally participated in online discussions hosted on politically-oriented blogosphere sites. I know this because I talked to him and was one of the first to beg him to run for president in back in 2004!

n June 2006, Obama campaigned against making recent, temporary estate tax cuts permanent, calling the cuts a "Paris Hilton" tax break for "billionaire heirs and heiresses.

Also in June 2006, Obama worked to broaden his party's political base, encouraging Democrats to reach out to evangelicals and other church-going people, saying, "if we truly hope to speak to people where theyâ??re at â?? to communicate our hopes and values in a way thatâ??s relevant to their own â?? we cannot abandon the field of religious discourse."

At an October 2006 campaign rally for Phil Angelides, Democratic Party nominee for Governor of California, Obama criticized the Bush administration "for the war in Iraq, a broken health care system, and a failure to recognize the threat of global warming

On November 20th, 2006, Obama announced that the United States should begin to withdraw troops from Iraq starting in 2007. "It is time to give Iraqis their country back, and it is time to refocus America's efforts on the wider struggle yet to be won." With the increasing death rate, and lack of progression in Iraq, Obama has now been added to the list of politicians to voice out with a specific date for troop withdraw.

AND NO TOROG HE IS NOT MUSLIM: Obama is a member of Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ.

Of his religious affiliation, Obama has written:

I was drawn to the power of the religious tradition to spur social change. In the history of these struggles, I was able to see faith as more than just a comfort to the weary or a hedge against death; rather, it was an active, palpable agent in the world. It was because of these newfound understandingsâ??that religious commitment did not require me to suspend critical thinking, disengage from the battle for economic and social justice, or otherwise retreat from the world that I knew and lovedâ??that I was finally able to walk down the aisle of Trinity United Church of Christ one day and be baptized. It came about as a choice and not an epiphany; the questions I had did not magically disappear. But kneeling beneath that cross on the South Side of Chicago, I felt God's spirit beckoning me. I submitted myself to His will, and dedicated myself to discovering His truth

I hope and pray he will be President and I hope you guys will support him.

PEACE

BlueCat

[Bong30]

Fuck Obama

he will NOT be president.....get a grip.

[BlueCat00]

Fuck Obama

he will NOT be president.....get a grip.

Did you even read what I wrote? Fuck Obama is not a intelligent debate. What exactly do you not like about him? Elaborate please and your killing my stone dude. :rasta: lighten up.

[andruejaysin]

If you're waiting for intelligent debate from bong you might want to pack a bowl and get comfortable.

[BlueCat00]

hahaha Oh I see. well I have taken on Torog and the hamster (amsterdam) so Bong doesn't scare me in the least. Good to see you still here BTW

[BlueCat00]

And I expect a reply to this thread from you TOROG you old redneck hippie!!

Let the political debates begin.....house and senate don't you just love it!