'The Challenges We Face'

Obama speaks out on his prospects for the presidency, his leading rival for the nomination and post-baby-boom politics.

By Jonathan Alter | NEWSWEEK
From the magazine issue dated Dec 25, 2006

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  • Posted By: joecommon@mailinator.com @ 07/02/2008 5:35:42 AM

    Barack Hussain is already wishing this thing was over, he says "the end of the campaign" as though he is getting tired of not making a solid statement. When is he going to admin his genetic father was a muslim, and his adoptive father was a muslim as well. In Islam, the son is automatically muslim. He may have changed later, but that does not change what he was - a muslim.

    • Posted By: Nins @ 07/02/2008 6:26:59 PM

      Joe, you are wrong about Obama's father. Obama's father was NOT a Muslim. Obama's father was an agnostic, and a Harvard-educated economist who was a high ranking official in the Kenyan government. Obama's African grandfather was a Muslim, but a converted one. HIs wife, Obama's grandmother, did not convert, nor did she raise her children as Muslims. In fact, Obama's African grandfather converted to the Muslim religion AFTER Obama's father was born, so Obama's father is not even a Muslim by default. Obama never met his African grandfather, and Obama only saw his African father once after he left when Obama was 2 years old. Obama had just about no contact with his father, and no contact at all with his father's family growing up.

      Obama was raised as a Christian by his Christian grandparents, with whom he spent all but three years of his childhood. Obama's mother was raised as a Christian and she called herself an atheist, but never the less, she took her children to all kinds of services: Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, Jewish and Hindu and told them that they should benefit from all types of contact with God. Obama lived with his non-religious but Muslim born stepfather for about three years, and they didn't get along very well. His stepfather was very Westernized, attended a US university and worked for an American oil company in Indonesia. His wedding ceremony to Obama's mother was NOT a Muslim ceremony, he was not a practicing Muslim and if he was he never would have married a non-Muslim woman. Obama himself was never a Muslim, his Mom and Dad were not Muslims, even Obama's stepfather, although born a Muslim, did not practice the Muslim faith. You really need to get your facts straight.

  • Posted By: Nins @ 07/02/2008 5:30:01 PM

    Why did the US military cancel a news conference where they were going to display the "Iranian" weapons they found in Iraq? Because there WERE NO IRANIAN weapons to display. Here are links supporting the fact that the weapons found in Iraq did not come from Iran:

    http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_05/013695.php
    http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/05/fire_next_time.html
    http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2008/05/iraq-the-elusiv.html

    NOT TO MENTION that the Untied States itself has had a notable role in arming the insurgency. When the US dissolved the Iraqi Army, that flooded Iraq with weapons. More recently the Pentagon admitted that it had lost track of a third of the weapons distributed to Iraqi security forces in 2004-05, totaling 190,000 assault rifles and pistols that are currently on the streets of Iraq. The British paper that published this article got it's information straight from the US Government Accounting Office's public website: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/pentagon-admits-190000-weapons-missing-in-iraq-460551.html

    Ask yourself, why would America want to pretend that Iran is pushing weapons in Iraq, when actually WE (the USA) has flooded Iraq's streets with weapons? Because Bush wants to declare war on Iran, and just like the fake "WMDs" in Iraq, he needs something to frighten Americans, so he comes out with this BS about Iran killing US soldiers in Iraq. He has also said that Iran is making nuclear weapons, but recent inspections have found NO EVIDENCE of nuclear weapons in Iran. JUST LIKE how repeated inspections found NO EVIDENCE of WMDs in Iraq. The reports of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN inspectors and nuclear experts at the Institute for Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) all agree that Iran DOES NOT have nuclear weapons. The IAEA report states that Iran only has "low enriched uranium, not the highly-enriched uranium necessary to produce a bomb." The ISIS reports states "It is important to note that they do not encompass the full scope of work required for a comprehensive nuclear weapons program. Missing is theoretical work on nuclear weapons, uranium metallurgy, and the development of a neutron initiator." http://www.yirmeyahureview.com/articles/2008/iaea_report_on_iran.htm#_ftn9

    In case you think the idea that Bush wants to bomb Iran is reactionary, you should know that John Bolton, former US Ambassador to the UN, recently told FoxNews that he can "definitely envision Bush bombing Iran before he leaves office." By bombing Iran, Bush makes it more likely McCain will be elected. But can the US Treasury, can the US economy stand more war? Even if we could afford it, we don't have the manpower in uniform. You know what that means: draft and conscription. Vote for McCain. Watch your children come home in body bags. Watch America go into a Great Depression.

  • Posted By: think4yourself @ 07/02/2008 10:20:45 AM

    TOP FIVE OBAMA LIES
    5. Stealing Hillary's policy issues b/c he had none of his own then joining in with others being sexist towards her then fasley CRYING racist whenever she or Bill brought his name up.
    4. Pledging to use public financing like McCain but only to shamefully post a pituful excuse why on his website citing why he chose to use private financing (what he critized Hillary for doing)
    3. Going Down to Florida in front of an African-American audience and using the race card against Republicans ( why didnt he make that comment in Ohio or Oregan or Virginia? Or with at least a mixed audience????
    2. Claiming STILL that he never heard a word of Rev Wright's speech in 20 yrs of membership and daring to start to go into Churches and try to fool Christians.
    1. Using someone else to do his dirty work by having Wesley Clark spit on McCain's service to this country just so he can look better for Independance Day. Even though Obama hasnt done so much as be a cub scout. (Cant say BOY scout... that would make me a racist)

    Can anyone add anymore to the list to make it a TOP TEN??

  • Posted By: just jerry @ 07/02/2008 10:04:46 AM

    What would be wrong if Obama was a Muslim? I know he isn't, but even if he was what would be wrong with that? Isn't this a nation with freedom of religion? Why couldn't a Muslim be president? Certainly a person's faith doesn't mean they aren't a patriotic and a good American does it?
    Nixon was a Quaker - was that reason he was a bad president? Jimmy Carter was a born again Christian is that what made him a bad president? George W. Bush is a Christian, is that what makes him a bad president? John Kennedy was a Catholic, wast he a good president because he was Catholic?
    Barack Obama is just like any other politician and attempts to say he is a Muslim and that would be somehow terrible just doesn't make any sense if you are a rational human being instead of a reactionary who automatically hates a certain category, or label, without even knowing the person.
    Does the same apply to Republicans and Democrats? Is one evil and the other good?

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