Inside Obama’s Dream Machine

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  • Posted By: benvictor @ 01/07/2008 9:50:16 AM

    I am a white-male democrat who has voted independent in the past. I shall continue to support Hillary. Should she not become the democratic nominee, I earnestly look forward to Mayor Bloomberg as the independent candidate. I simply cannot stomach the empty rhetoric of Obama. As the Wendy's commercial once asked, "Where's the beef?" My God, where is the substance with him. I like the idea the Mayor Bloomberg may offer us this alternative for president.

    • Posted By: womo @ 01/07/2008 1:08:31 PM

      Some people live without hope or this a racial thing with you?

  • Posted By: ClassyChic @ 01/07/2008 10:02:32 AM

    I am a young, minority, bi-racial Democrat who will vote for Hillary Clinton. I agree with benvictor that Obama is just hype and empty promises. And I will also vote independent if Obama gets the nomination. I'll write in Hillary or vote for Bloomberg. I'm a strong Democrat ever since I could vote but I will not vote for Obama.

    • Posted By: adam in iowa city @ 01/07/2008 11:50:05 AM

      These kinds of posts make me very suspicious. I'm an independent who chose Obama, but of course I'd vote for Hillary over any Republican candidate. What kind of "strong democrat" would throw the election to the GOP if she didn't get her first choice candidate?

      How does Obama offend/threaten you so much? He's all hype? Editor of Harvard Law Review, community organizer, civil rights attorney, state legislature, U.S. Senate, opposed the Iraq War when other Dems lacked the courage of their convictions; doesn't sound like hype to me.

      I'm sincerely curious why you are so anti-Obama, and anit-Democrat if it comes to that. Is this "take my bat and ball and go home" sour grapes? Conscious or not, this hostile, embittered kind of HRC campaign is exactly what turns off so many people who have swung to Obama.
      Don't swallow the HRC/RNC talking point about Obama being empty/all hype; if you look deeper, it's that accusation that is hollow.

      • Posted By: womo @ 01/07/2008 1:06:07 PM

        These are the rantings of an angry woman! Highly emotional without a logical construct.

  • Posted By: danielgouldman @ 01/07/2008 10:28:07 AM

    When I see the comments about him not having a substantive track record or failing to follow through on promises etc - I just don't understand how others are unable to find this information. Its really simple. I just googled "Obama legislation" to find out about the man and it was really easy to see that he has been involved in legislation that means something to you and me. Our friends in Washington need to restore civility to the institution and they need to get things done again. We need to have a leader who brings back morality to the presidency. I think Obama is the man for the job. GOOGLE it for goodness sake. 1 more day!

    • Posted By: BOAPW @ 01/07/2008 10:42:29 AM

      Being associated with legislation is not experience or leadership. What has he done outside of politics. Nothing. He had little to no understanding of economics or business, let alone the military and international relationships. He is worse than Jimmy Carter who is the 2nd worse president we have had. Bush being worst.

      • Posted By: danielgouldman @ 01/07/2008 11:24:47 AM

        Check your facts - what has he done? He was in the state legislature for 7 years - he has been in the Senate for 6. He was the head of the Harvard Law Review. He was a community organizer. He taught constitutional law. I mean - he may not have been a governor but who cares? I'm into management - that's what I do and I'll tell you that he has the leadership to be successful. I'm certain of this in his style; he has an inclusive, collaborative style that I find very productive and appealing. There is simply no job like the presidency and no job will prepare you better for it than the next - I honestly believe that. I really do. We do agree on one thing though - Bush was the worst president ever. I hate throwing that negative vibe but he is the worst thing that has ever happened to America as far as the presidency goes.

        • Posted By: BOAPW @ 01/07/2008 11:54:54 AM

          Just a quick correction. He started inthe US Senate Jan 2005. This means he has only served 3 years. 2 of which he has been running for President. His one job that I could find was as a copy writer for a financial news letter, which he embellished in his autobiography. He does give a good speech though.

          • Posted By: womo @ 01/07/2008 1:00:57 PM

            Are you on something--or you high? What are you talking about ('a copy writer for a financial newsletter. He is a breath of "fresh air". Better than the other candidates in the field. Go check yourself--there must be other motives for your comments than relying on facts.

  • Posted By: just wondering @ 01/07/2008 12:57:46 PM

    Is it true that in Iowa, 17 year olds that were too young to register to vote, but whose birthdays would fall before the required date for registering for the general election, were allowed to caucus?

  • Posted By: tobalito49 @ 01/07/2008 12:56:24 PM

    Obama does not want to discuss any specific agenda for dealing with the cult of Robber Baron corporados that are crushing the Amercan middle sector and selling off America's technology to the highest foreign bidder. Obama will not discuss his specific plans for dealing with the key reality that locks US foreign policy into contradictions and folly: OPEC oil power. Obama will discuss the poetry of what he "wants" but he will not dare discuss on what he is going to do about US environmental destruction and the rising problem of immigration. Obama wants to be sweetie pie nice because the heat of substantive specifics will cause him to melt. American's eat up such Oprah-feed TV imagery. Obama's lack of experience and substantive detail on issues both domestic and global, stand in striking contrast to the one candidate that actually had both awesome experience and deep substantive program directions: Joe Biden. Obama is a Hollywood storybook.

  • Posted By: ru4real6846 @ 01/07/2008 12:55:50 PM

    We don't care who gets in office, as long as it's a democrat to straighten out all of Bush and his administration's mistakes. It's going to take a democrat to bring our country back.

  • Posted By: wpjson @ 01/07/2008 11:12:25 AM

    The day I graduated from High School Bobby Kennedy was shot. For forty years I have been looking for a candidate of hope and change. Last Thursday, with Obama's victory in Iowa, I believe I have found that candidate. As for experience, remember the least experienced president in our history was Abraham Lincoln, who was also our greatest. Our most experienced was either Herbert Hoover or James Buchanan. Ever hear of them? They really were not amoung our best..

    • Posted By: DrumMajorForJustice @ 01/07/2008 12:52:53 PM

      Your comment is right on the mark! Why is Sen. Obama being held to another standard???

  • Posted By: OldGamer007 @ 01/07/2008 12:46:48 PM

    vjg75235@msn.com said: Candidacies which are built on emotions clearly do not carry any substance! Obama is not substantive enough to fill the vacuum in Washington!

    First, you are uneducated to his campaign if you think it is all about Emotions. As for emotions, you forget the why, and where those emotions came from. The youth showed up in record numbers for a reason. "HINT" Even Clinton consider to forgetting about them... Here's your sign!

  • Posted By: rsjtccnew @ 01/07/2008 10:45:09 AM

    I tried to post this after the Iowa caucus : Congratulations Al Quida. I hope everyone is buying a copy of the Koran. The opponents should keep playing the video showing his lack of respect for the National Anthem.

    • Posted By: spaceage1 @ 01/07/2008 12:38:51 PM

      A VERY assinine comment. Due to the current administration's floundering about in Iraq, Al Queda has grown with a zealous ferver, and has made the terrorist climate far more dangerous than it was before 9/11. Go ahead and vote for which ever GOP asshat that you feel will keep us in a useless war where we'll only continue to lose MORE of our soldiers and further empower terrorists world-wide.

  • Posted By: falko @ 01/07/2008 12:38:31 PM

    do we know about politics more then Obama ? As far as we know he is a senator ! it is not about "what the country can do for you but can you do for your country"

  • Posted By: DrumMajorForJustice @ 01/07/2008 12:35:46 PM

    As I read the negative comments about Sen. Obama's probability of success as a potential POTUS, I'm reminded of the opinion that Mr. Justice Chaney authored following the Dread Scott case. He said: "The only rights a black has are the rights that a white man gives him". Hope, change and belief in the U.S. constitution turned the Chaney opinion into an obscene anachrorism. Such will be the fate of negative comments on Sen. Obama.

  • Posted By: falko @ 01/07/2008 12:30:39 PM

    what are you talking about Obama he is a senator ! do you konw more about politics than Obama?
    like you have just said " I have watched the devates " is it the same between watching and being at the devates?

  • Posted By: anabaa @ 01/07/2008 12:24:35 PM

    I will take my chance on someone with vision and that's clearly what Obama offers!

  • Posted By: vjg75235@msn.com @ 01/07/2008 12:18:18 PM

    We need to realize that Obama oweds his Iowa win to Oprah Winfrey and to no other. It is unfortrunate that the poeple who have jumped on this band wagon have all been swayed by the emotions of the moment. There is no substance to be found, other than sheer emotionalism on the part of individuals who do not and cannot think for themselves. This nation sorely needs an intellectual giant to lead it out of the morass created by the Bush administration - an intellectual giant on the order of Colin Powell, if it were to be an African American, a true leader! - not a pigmy grasping at emotional straws in the wind!
    Candidacies which are built on emotions clearly do not carry any substance! Obama is not substantive enough to fill the vacuum in Washington!

  • Posted By: adam in iowa city @ 01/07/2008 12:15:11 PM

    Wow, the Clnton machine is revving up the attacks on Obama today. Must have noticed that he's opened up a double digit lead on her. She just doesn't seem to get it that the more she smears him, the more she feeds his lead. This politics of bitterness and diversion turns independents off, and feeds into the impression of Hillary the b*tch that the GOP has been selling for years.
    It was a teling mistake to fill the stage at her concession speech in Iowa with all the grey eminences of the old party: Albright, Bill, Clark, etc. It reinforces the impression that she is very yesterday. Incumbency doesn't sell in this political climate, especially when 90 percent of her so-called experience is suspect (first lady, bankruptcy bill, war vote, Wal-Mart, etc.). If you look past the smoke and mirrors, you can see that Obama's experience is completely adequate, and his ability to appeal to what's good in America is potent political medicine.
    One last point on the so-called emptiness of his rhetoric: stump speeches and sound bytes do not lend themselves to a point-by-point explication of the minutiae. If you listen to HRC or JE, or the GOP, you'll not the same lack of details. Go to their position papers if you want detail.

  • Posted By: OilBurns @ 01/07/2008 11:55:45 AM

    My response to danielgouldman about his question: what has he [Obama] done? A person???s past accomplishments are not always a harbinger of what he/she will do in the future. Obama is young. He is bright, educated, wise, sensible and shows political savvy way beyond his years. He went against a strong tide by opposing an Iraq war, when many of his opponents, especially HRC, conveniently supported it for political expedience. These are indispensable ingredients that make a good leader and a great president. These traits trump on experience as the most important qualifications for a president. If we are to believe that experience matters more than wisdom, intelligence, foresight and intellect, then none of today's leaders of commerce and industry would have failed. I refer you to Bill Gates who at 17 started a forerunner to Microsoft. I refer you to Apple co-founder Steven Jobs, Google founders Larry Page and Sergei Brin, who were all under 30 years of age when they conceived and saw to fruition their brilliant ideas that continue to transform the socio-economic life of the world's population. I rest my case.

    • Posted By: BOAPW @ 01/07/2008 12:11:39 PM

      Your facts as to how these brilliant young minds brought their companies to fruitiation is very wrong. They did have very good ideas, but investors brought in experienced people to create and grow the companies. You need to spend some time in a tech startup or with the VCs. Gates and Jobs are the few who grew into the role over time but had alot of help along the way. Jobs has done a brilliant turn around based on his experience and past mistakes. Obama will be OJTing in a role that can ill afford that experiment.

  • Posted By: vjg75235@msn.com @ 01/07/2008 12:08:42 PM

    Let us understand that the Obama impetus was ctreated by Oprah Winfrey and no other in Iowa! The Obama bandwagon is nothing more than one great big emotional outpouring by people who cannot and do not ever think for themselves. This nation needs an intellectual giant to lead the nation, such as a Colin Powell, if it must be an African American! Obama does not fill any of this! I am not pushing any candidate so no one can accuse me of bigotry or anything else.
    America must wake up to the reality that this nation has been plundered by the present administration, which in my opinion, is something which we have not been willing to truly face. The next president and administration must be up to the task of bringing sanity and world wide respect back to the USA! We desperately need someone of great stature at the helm, not a pygmy!

  • Posted By: jodyjo777 @ 01/07/2008 12:05:28 PM

    I have watched the debates and Obama is still full of the "change" talk but nothing more. I think his voters are so taken with his "change" talk that they have lost fact of the FACTS! Yes I agree we need change in America in just about every single area but I don't hear WHAT change Obama will do. I'm in the two parties that "they" say Obama is getting support from the under 30 and Independent. I'm not enchanted by his talk of change because he lacks the ability to tell me what change. I would write in my own vote before I would vote for Obama. God help America if this man becomes the next President, it's going to go from bad to worse!!

  • Posted By: jodyjo777 @ 01/07/2008 12:04:17 PM

    I have watched the debates and Obama is still full of the "change" talk but nothing more. I think his voters are so taken with his "change" talk that they have lost fact of the FACTS! Yes I agree we need change in America in just about every single area but I don't hear WHAT change Obama will do. I'm in the two parties that "they" say Obama is getting support from the under 30 and Independent. I'm not enchanted by his talk of change because he lacks the ability to tell me what change. I would write in my own vote before I would vote for Obama. God help America if this man becomes the next President, it's going to go from bad to worse!!

  • Posted By: hardlens @ 01/07/2008 12:03:34 PM

    He frankly sounds hollow to me. An all his rhetorics are just that. There is just no substance to this guy.

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