The Obama Delusion

You're missing the point of Barrack Obama. Change doesn't come from the politicians. It comes from the people. Change doesn't come from fighting with a small margin of majority. They come from a 65% coalition. Barrack's power is in motivating people to force the change.

In your article, you also completely ignore the fact that lobbyists don???t own Barrack, and NOTHING in Washington is going to change until the cozy relationship between lawmakers and lobbyists is shut down. It all starts with that, and he???ll be a one-term President if he doesn???t meet that promise.

You also neglect to talk about this rut of a war that we have become mired in due to a stubborn President and a partisan stalemate. If you don???t think that extracting us from the financial and military strains of this war aren???t a change, then methinks you???re wearing blinders.

I???ll give you one last change (since I???m on a roll). Democrats aren???t going to sit by idly while right-wing lackeys perform an attack and smear job on our next President. Barrack won???t play those politics, but we, ???the people we???ve been waiting for,??? aren???t going to put up with it any longer. We???re going to strike hard and with painful accuracy.

Lastly, just because you don't personally like the change, doesn't mean it's not going to happen.

Mixerman

Robert, what delusion? You have yet to name where Obama's so-called "rhetoric" is contradicting his action? To write an article with a provocative title and yet present no clear supportive info is not resposible journalism...it's personal opinion. And everyone has one of those, right?

Barack Obama will not be able to deal with the crisis which this country will encounter. neither will he be able to deal with the ones already ruining our country's economic stability and place in the world. I am praying that Hillary Clinton will become the President of the United States.

Hillary will break the dynamic and the momentum during Thursday night debate. I am extremely alarmed for our country if we have a president who never dealt with any economical and political crisis in his life. Some one who is pompous, cocky, enthralled with himself and gives great speeches to people who just want to be made to feel good and refuse to find out who's got the plans, policies, who's going to deliver. Senator Clinton's opponent is clearly non qualifying. We should be very concerned for our future, and also quite shocked if an unexperienced candidate runs against McCain in November. McCain will have B.O. for breakfast. The Republicans will use their usual scare tactics: National security, McCain's experience and military record against, well, B.O.'s.
Also, non wonder big insurance companies have sued Senator Clinton over her plan! She's after them. B.O. is after the presidency!
As a matter of fact, such scare tactics will work easily, since bo is too cocky, pompous and enthralled with himself to get any advisors to help. (And we know how that worked with Bush!)
Hillary Clinton is the only candidate to beat McCaine, they want him aginst McCain, and it is obvious why. Hillary needs to speak from her heart Thursday night, and simply ask TX, OH, PA, RI and VT to help our country.

Some thoughts from across the border:

I'm an American living in Canada right now and I am amazed at the cult of Obama that has grown here -- and they can't even vote for him -- yet they are glued to their TV or computer screens to track his every move and schedule their social lives around his debates and the primary results. While I am an Obama supporter, and even gave money to his campaign -- something I've never done in my 20 years of being an eligible voter -- I continue to be fascinated by the people this leader attracts across nationalities and age groups. And I'm not just talking those of voting age. I even had a conversation with my 9-year-old nephew in San Diego who said to me, "Any president is better than the one we have now. I wouldn't vote for Hillary, I just don't trust her, but I've only heard Obama speak once. I'll have to watch more of his speeches and see what he has to say."

Apparently most of his neighborhood friends have Obama fever as well, which is not to say, "Hey, look, even kids like him and they are the future." But, rather, it's, wow, when there is a person who even gets grade school kids thinking seriously about the future of our country and the leaders who would shape it, that is extraordinary. And, you know what, in that 15-minute conversation, not once did he mention the race or sex of the candidates. Maybe because he's biracial? Maybe because he doesn't see in color? Maybe because what's at stake is more than electing the first (half)black man or first woman as president? It's about seeing people's potential and I believe that is what a candidate like Obama inspires in all of us. When I picked up a newspaper to put it in recycling when I was visiting my nephew he said, "You know, for some people, that's a blanket." He didn't say a homeless person, he didn't call them poor people, he said "some people." Is it so awful to be general sometimes? I think Obama or Clinton can learn a lot from such rhetoric, however young and inexperienced they may be considered.

Unfortunately, I'm a Green party member -- I still dream of a multiparty system -- so I didn't get to cast a vote for either Democratic candidate during the California primary, but I must say I'm excited and proud to watch from another country (well, it's not that far) as two exceptional individuals battle for the democratic candidacy. The Canadians I've been following this with are, for a change, envious of what's taking place in the States. They see people getting involved and it's a huge change in perception from what they witnessed the last time I lived here, when they watched in horror at the developments in New Orleans. Then, people here asked me, "How could that happen? What's wrong with your country?"

Now, as they watch a Obama and Clinton in the spotlight, they say, "There is still hope for your country." By the way, they think "their boy" will take it all the way to the White Ho

Some thoughts from across the border:

I'm an American living in Canada right now and I am amazed at the cult of Obama that has grown here -- and they can't even vote for him -- yet they are glued to their TV or computer screens to track his every move and schedule their social lives around his debates and the primary results. While I am an Obama supporter, and even gave money to his campaign -- something I've never done in my 20 years of being an eligible voter -- I continue to be fascinated by the people this leader attracts across nationalities and age groups. And I'm not just talking those of voting age. I even had a conversation with my 9-year-old nephew in San Diego who said to me, "Any president is better than the one we have now. I wouldn't vote for Hillary, I just don't trust her, but I've only heard Obama speak once. I'll have to watch more of his speeches and see what he has to say."

Apparently most of his neighborhood friends have Obama fever as well, which is not to say, "Hey, look, even kids like him and they are the future." But, rather, it's, wow, when there is a person who even gets grade school kids thinking seriously about the future of our country and the leaders who would shape it, that is extraordinary. And, you know what, in that 15-minute conversation, not once did he mention the race or sex of the candidates. Maybe because he's biracial? Maybe because he doesn't see in color? Maybe because what's at stake is more than electing the first (half)black man or first woman as president? It's about seeing people's potential and I believe that is what a candidate like Obama inspires in all of us. When I picked up a newspaper to put it in recycling when I was visiting my nephew he said, "You know, for some people, that's a blanket." He didn't say a homeless person, he didn't call them poor people, he said "some people." Is it so awful to be general sometimes? I think Obama or Clinton can learn a lot from such rhetoric, however young and inexperienced they may be considered.

Unfortunately, I'm a Green party member -- I still dream of a multiparty system -- so I didn't get to cast a vote for either Democratic candidate during the California primary, but I must say I'm excited and proud to watch from another country (well, it's not that far) as two exceptional individuals battle for the democratic candidacy. The Canadians I've been following this with are, for a change, envious of what's taking place in the States. They see people getting involved and it's a huge change in perception from what they witnessed the last time I lived here, when they watched in horror at the developments in New Orleans. Then, people here asked me, "How could that happen? What's wrong with your country?"

Now, as they watch a Obama and Clinton in the spotlight, they say, "There is still hope for your country." By the way, they think "their boy" will take it all the way to the White Ho

HERE'S yOUR pROOF HALLOW. I AM VERy GLAD yOU ASKED THIS QUESTION.
THIS pROVES THAT OBAMA IS THE REAL DEAL SON.

Obama proved persuasive enough that the bill passed both houses of the legislature, the Senate by an incredible 35 to 0. Then he talked Blagojevich into signing the bill, making Illinois the first state to require such videotaping.

Obama didn't stop there. He played a major role in passing many other bills, including the state's first earned-income tax credit to help the working poor and the first ethics and campaign finance law in 25 years (a law a Post story said made Illinois "one of the best in the nation on campaign finance disclosure"). Obama's commitment to ethics continued in the U.S. Senate, where he co-authored the new lobbying reform law that, among its hard-to-sell provisions, requires lawmakers to disclose the names of lobbyists who "bundle" contributions for them.

Taken together, these accomplishments demonstrate that Obama has what Dillard, the Republican state senator, calls a "unique" ability "to deal with extremely complex issues, to reach across the aisle and to deal with diverse people." In other words, Obama's campaign claim that he can persuade us to rise above what divides us is not just rhetoric.

Avian flu: Obama was one of the first Senators to speak out on avian flu, back in the spring of 2005, when it was a quintessentially wonky issue, not the subject of breathless news reports. There's a list of Democratic efforts on avian flu here; Obama shows up early and often. He has sponsored legislation, including what I think is the first bill dedicated to pandemic flu preparedness. It's a good bill, providing not just for vaccine research and antiviral stockpiles, but for the kinds of state and local planning and preparedness that will be crucial if a pandemic occurs. (I was also very interested to note that it requires the Secretary of HHS to contract with the Institute of Medicine for a study of "the legal, ethical, and social implications of, with respect to pandemic influenza". This is actually very important, and not everyone would have thought of it.)
"We recommend that this administration work with Congress, public health officials, the pharmaceutical industry, foreign governments and international organizations to create a permanent framework for curtailing the spread of future infectious diseases.

There were death penalty abolitionists, some of whom worried that Obama's bill, by preventing the execution of innocents, would deprive them of their best argument. Vigorous opposition came from the police, too many of whom had become accustomed to using muscle to "solve" crimes. And the incoming governor, Rod Blagojevich, announced that he was against it.

THIS IS A pERFECT EXAMpLE OF WHAT OBAMA CAN DO AND HAS ALREADy DONE, BRING DIFFERENT FACTIONS TOGETHER TO ACHIEVE A COMMON GOAL.

Progressive Action Score: 69
A score of 69 means that Sen. Obama has acted to support 69% of a slate of progressive policies in the 110th Congress. Progressive, forward-looking actions Senator Obama has taken to merit a PAS of 69:

Senator Obama cast a vote against the ironically named Protect America Act. The Protect America Act is a law now passed by both houses of Congress which replaces judicial warrants with executive prerogative and substitutes blank checks for reasons. The Protect America Act gives the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence the power to spy on your emails, your web surfing, your telephone calls and other electronic communications. All this is carried out without a warrant, which is required by the 4th Amendment to the United States Constitution.

There is no supervision of the spy programs put in place by the Attorney General and the DNI, except by these two indivivuals themselves. No one has the power to stop them any more. They can search your records, sift through your private messages, watch you go from web page to web page, on the pretext of protecting America from terrorists, all without a search warrant. No one has the power to tell them no.

the Attorney General and the DNI, both political appointees of the President, have the power under the Protect America Act to order any American to help them conduct their electronic spying against other Americans. Under the new law, if they order you to take part in their spying operations, and you say no, they can throw you in prison. If you do not keep their spying on other Americans a secret, even from your family, they can throw you in prison.

The Protect America Act institutes Big Brother government in the United States. It betrays American liberty. It is a shame that the Act passed, but thanks are due to Senator Obama for casting a vote against it.

Right Wing Index Score: 0
A score of 0 means that Senator Obama has acted to support 0% of a slate of conservative, wrongheaded policies in the 110th Congress.

all the pundits that claim the obama is all talk show in their writting that they have no substantce to back up the argument that he has no substence. it require self motivated research to learn the truth, and if the truth is different then what you want it to be, maybe you might just skip it like our friend robert here and make an easy, cowardly argument. It is much easier to attack a person, then their actual record and positions. I chalenge you to compare the bills obama passed in the state leg, to hillary in the federal senate. she mostly named federl buildings. she only got 3 bills to a majority vote. one was struck by the supreame court. SHe doesn't have as much experience as she claims. why has obama not attacked her on this? He has class. He doesn't make those kinds of attacks generally. He attacks her policy. not her. she attacks him not his policy. so I ask you robert... please...don't insult us by pretending we can't tell you havn't done the footwork for your article. there are a lot of out of work writers in this world. you are lucky to have a job.

The man is sincere...we elected a NoBody for 8 yrs...more than that...Him got us in this Big Hole.

Really how bad can it be eh!., Mr Samuelson?...why are you squatting on that throne and thinking you know better than the masses that want to be healed?

You think Obama will get this country off kilter...think again....our trajectory is already skewed. Atleast Obama tells you to work for the country. Him told us to go out and Shop when 9/11 happened. So much for soul searching....

Obama is fine. We all need a healer...

Mr. Samuelson, increasing government transparency, weakening the hold that special interests have over legislators, and encouraging civic participation to build a strong majority that spans all 50 states to overcome some of the partisan gridlock that's hindered us since the early 90's, is significant and real change for most people. Obama's record backs up his committment to these causes. You haven't done your research.

You have to get people interested in politics first. I have not given up on this experiment called America. Washington will always be a game, but with a little common sense and use of the art of compromise, perhaps somebody (maybe our country?) can win from time to time.

You've got to get people interested in politics first . I,for one, haven't given up on this experiment called America. Washington will always be a game, but if just a little common sense and a little compromise is practiced, maybe someone ( our country, perhaps?) could actually win from time to time. Penny Little Lexington, KY