the new and improved obama thread

I rather like Obama.Being in Illinois, I have watched his progress. I first heard of him somewhere around 1986 or 1988, when he was running for the state legislature. When he has debated state policy, I have been impressed with his grasp of the issues. Then he ran a masterful campaign for U.S. senate in 2004.I have a lot of respect for Hillary, too. But I'm not sure to what extent I can trust her judgment, particularly given her mistaken support of the Iraq war.I don't like Edwards at all. In 2004, he chided his opponents for not supporting the war. This time he has been chiding his opponents for not being strongly enough against the war. I'm all for him recognizing his earlier mistake and changing his mind, but he should have done so with a little more humility.In summary, I think Obama will be a good candidate. I think he would do better than Hillary in the general election. There are a lot of Hillary haters out there, but I think not too many Barrack haters. Sure, there is the racism problem. But I'm inclined to think it won't hurt him very much. Many whites will see him as more white than black, at least in terms of his overall perspective. There will be some hardcore racists, but they were going to vote for Huckabee or somebody similar anyway.

I don't think Obama will have a problem with the black vote, assuming he gets the nomination. In the state legislature, he was representing a predominantly black district, and received high support.The primaries may be a different matter. Bill Clinton did a lot for the black community, and many feel an obligation to support Hillary as payback. But if Obama comes out as the nominee, I think he will pick up that vote without difficulty.

I see that the Republican smear campaign is already underway, and that people who claim that they are moral Christians are engaging in this smear.When did Christianity abolish the golden rule?

You posted innuendo, which has no purpose except to persuade people to have false ideas about Obama.

The innuendo is right there in your Message 9 in this thread. No citation is strictly necessary, since the evidence is already before us.There is nothing to refute, because you presented only innuendo, but no factual claims. Thats what makes innuendo so nasty. You attack somebody in a way that is difficult to refute. It cannot be refuted because you never actually expressed any untruths. You just said things in ways that most readers would infer false conclusions.I'll ask you again - when did Christianity repeal the golden rule?

I think they can't actually hurt Obama all that badly. They will shoot themselves in the foot if they try. The public is in no mood for those tactics, and are pretty determined to elect a Democrat anyway. And Obama seems to have the skills to deflect that sort of attack.They will go after Hillary just as strongly if she is the nominee. And I think she may have a harder time dealing with it than Obama.Anyway, the dems should choose their nominee based on what they want, rather than on fear of what the republicans will do.

The people in the South who would vote against Obama on racial grounds would have voted for the republican candidate anyway, so I don't think this matters. I think most of the country is now color blind. However, there is still a lot of cultural discrimination. Many whites don't like black culture, and a lot of what is taken to be racial discrimination is really cultural discrimination.Obama will be seen as being a better fit with the culture of middle class whites than with that of inner city blacks. Thus he will be far more acceptable than a Jesse Jackson or an Al Sharpton. Sure they will. But it will be easier for the republicans to make Whitewater charges stick on Hillary, than to make racial charges stick on Obama. If they try too hard on the racial charges, that will turn off a lot of people from voting republican. Attacks against Hillary on Whitewater, or Travelgate, or her earlier attempt at health care won't have the same risk of a backlash.In any case, we can only wait and see.At present, most democrats would be happy with any of the top dem candidates, while many republicans are not too happy with any of their candidates. It's going to be interesting.

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Let's end the political smears