Sorry I haven't been around much lately...real life stuff has been keeping me busy.  But I wanted to weigh in on this one, although I only had time to touch briefly on a bunch of things that probably deserve their own diaries, if not books :)

I've been thinking along those same lines - that while Obama may not have much experience he has the ability to ignite passion and hope and idealism and, hopefully, move many, many younger people to the polls.

You were born the year I graduated from high school (OMFG!)and even I feel that the time is right for newer, fresher faces that more accurately reflect the population of our country.  I have had "that feeling" about Obama since he spoke at the 2004 convention and it's only gotten stronger.

you will be a very very wise being early in this life ;).  I become hopeful where Obama is concerned when I consider his ethnicity and as XicanoPwr puts it, he isn't lighter in color than a brown paper bag.  It was very hard discovering that what my family so easily grasped about skin color was not so by everyone.  I was even a little heartsick when I realized that a hot hate filled debate existed in my country about something that was done and settled within my family's four walls under our roof.  If Obama were able to get elected, even as a VP, it would soothe that wound in my heart.  For me it would represent a willingness in America for a growth and human experience that I have felt sometimes America would never make it to.  I just can't find trust though in the man because I already know his short voting record and it hasn't been progressive or even Democrat too many times already.

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Sorry, I have to agree with RHL here.  I just can't get excited about him yet.  It's amazing to me how he's gone from zero to contender in the blink of an eye.  Perception really is everything.  And perception has provided him with something that he doesn't yet deserve, a shot at the oval office.

Oh, there you are, Perry. -Phineas -SLB-

If the people lead, the leaders will follow.  In Obama, I see someone who could facilitate the restoration of the leadership to the public.

Interesting comment.  I believe that a lot of politicians think they are responsive to the people and that they have the polls and focus groups to prove it.  I beleive that Obama is a shrewd politician and will respond to the polls and focus groups as well.  I'm already seeing it in the way in which he has publicly embraced religion.  We have a lot of people in this country who are not educated about the issues and media that is unwilling to educate them.  I want a leader who is well informed and competent.  I want one that exhibits integrity and can state his case persuasively.

So the issue is which "people" are leading. The fundies. The bloggers. The youth. The elders. The rural folks.  The elite intellectuals. The heads of corporations. No politician is going to please everybody. That's why I'd love to see a politician who is true to his own conscience, even if I  disagree with him/her some times.  

If you want things to get better, be prepared to deal with change.

I wouldn't and couldn't have come at this from the same angle but it kind of summarizes what I think about Obama.

To some degree, he is an empty vessel.  Fill him up with the right stuff and you will get great outcomes, but allow him to be filled up by someone or something else and you will be disappointed by the outcome.  

In a contrary example we have someone like Dennis Kucinich or Al Sharpton.  They have vessels that can be filled with all the good stuff in the world, but they can't cover the terrain.  They can say and do and mean all the right things, but they can do no more than feed some other vessel that will make the full trip.

This isn't strictly an electability argument.  It's more than that.  Certain politicians have the capacity to change the nation and the parties, just through the force of their personality.  They transcend party.  We've only seen a few of them.  TR, FDR and LBJ come to mind.  Reagan and Clinton fall into some lesser category, mainly because they were so broadly polarizing. But Reagan came the closest of the Republican presidents.  

I'm a tough judge, but Teddy Roosevelt and FDR are the only two 20th-Century Presidents that would let do the job again.  And I think Eisenhower was the next best, although I still am appalled at some of his foreign policies.

because I think this is the most civilised debate I have ever read here. Both sides have very good points to them. For me, I was blown away by Obama's speech at the 04 convention. I thought, a real up and comer for sure. But the verdict is still out for me. It is way to early for me to make up my mind. I DO want a candidate with substance and not a clone/actor with no soul. That is just another candidate that wil do/say anything to get elected. I want to know what it is other than looks and charisma that have folks so stoked for Obama. Where does he stand on getting us out of Iraq? Will he support gay marriage/civil unions? DOes he believe in a woman's right to choose? What will he do about Darfur? Global warming? and on and on. I need time to listen to what ALL the candidates are saying and doing.

Frodo failed...Bush has got the ring.

To me, Barack Obama personifies everything that is wrong about American politics and those who consume it. He's fast food. Tastes good, but in the long run it constricts your heart and can kill you. Empty, contrived and poll driven words do not inspire me. Physical beauty does not inspire me. Ethnicity does not inspire me. Deeds, conviction and an inate ability to reach into the life of the average person who knows bullshit when they see it and are so goddamned sick and tired of being played by the system...that inspires me. Obama is a beltway player now. I don't know much about who he was before now, but now is all that matters to me. Obama can't even begin to get his foot in my door.

Green Grass and High Tides Forever

I could simply say "what blksista said" and "what Booman said".  Obama reminds me of a character on StarTrek Next Generation, who became whoever the person she was with wanted her to be.  Now, I don't think he is that sort, really, but it's how he is held by the perceiver. Many people see him as reflecting their values, their hopes. Many middle and upper class people, I think. He's a nice, attractive, smart person, who isn't Hillary Clinton, nor a retired General, nor a Governor of an  obscure state, nor a "loser" politician, nor a person from a part of the country that we are so often ashamed of.

I'll same some more potentially unpopular things: I do think Obama passes the paper bag test. He is light-skinned, non-threatening to white persons. He doesn't personally carry the history of former slavery - that's to his advantage in certain white circles, sad to say. However, it is wrong to assume that he will automatically be charismatic to Black citizens and other people. He came to Detroit and was greeted cordially and with enthusiasm - but not, in my opinion, with wild fervor and intense excitement. I did not see the same kind of feeling that I saw when Jesse Jackson's visit produced astonishing voter turnout where I was living.

Neither do I think getting people excited is necessarily the mark of outstanding leadership. It's more the cult of personality at work, and I don't think we know enough about what Obama has in his personality to be sure he should be the President. Give him some seasoning in a Senate that isn't totally hamstrung by
Republican control, and see what he will do. Maybe then. . .
 

I'd suggest that all of you who have serious problems with Obama read his first book, "Dreams from My Father: Stories of Race and Inheritance." He wrote it after he had finished law school and, rather than going for the position in a big law firm, went to Chicago to be a community organizer. His life experience is definitely unique, being the son of a Kenyan and American, but his mother also married a second time and moved the family to Indonesia while Barak was growing up. He explains in the book his rather complicated jouney to find an identity.

I don't think the book will take away any reservations people have about him. I know that it just makes me more confused. What I see in the book and what I see today from him don't necessarily jive. But it does make me think that there is more to him than we've seen so far. So I'm not ready to write him off yet - still watching.

It would be fun to resurrect the "book club" here at booman. We could read this book together and discuss what we think.

Doesn't information itself have a liberal bias? Steven Colbert

The democrats seem to be falling in behind the idea of sending more troops to Iraq and the continued funding of both wars. Instead of addressing that issue, I see the cult of personality alive and well on this site. I'm with Louisiana girl.

What has Obama done for the working class? In that respect, what have the democrats done for the working class? They will throw a few crumbs our way, we can count on that.

In the meantime, our resources and our children's future is disappearing down the black hole of Iraq.

List five accomplishments Obama has acheived on the federal level.  List five.

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