Obama Plays It Fast and Loose
- 05.06.2008 - 9:37 PM“It is not weakness but wisdom to talk not just to our friends but to our enemies, like Roosevelt did and Kennedy did and Truman did,” he just said. Let’s see now. Roosevelt went to war with Japan and Germany; he did not “talk” to them. Truman dropped two atomic bombs on Japan. Kennedy did do some negotiating, so he’s got something there, but he also led the United States to the brink of war over Cuba. The more apposite examples, here, would be Richard Nixon (SALT treaty), Ronald Reagan (Reykjavik summit) and Jimmy Carter. Nixon and Reagan were Republicans, and Carter is currently looking for any terrorist whose boot he can lick. Maybe this is a line Obama should drop from his stump speech.
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May 6th, 2008 at 10:15 PM
John,
I listened to part of Obama’s speech and tried to listen as if I was just the average
guy who gets his news from the headlines and a few newscasts here and there.
Obama will be very very tough to beat. Using his Alinsky style of politics he says
all the right buzz words and mostly hides his agenda. His wife on the other hand
is more open about her world view and aims.
As a speaker Obama does not have anyone, with the possible exception of Newt, who can stand up to his style of rhetoric. November could prove to be one of those disasterous turning points in politics. If the Senate gets close to 60 Dems we will see legislation which will change the course of our economic future to say nothing of foreign policy.
In Europe the elections seem to indicate that whoever is in gets voted out. The people are scared and confused. And “change” is the watchword.
May 6th, 2008 at 10:24 PM
TedM nails it. We should all get ready for a Dem landslide. Obama is smart, compelling, a self-created Gatsby type of seducer. What foul dust will float in the wake of Obama’s dreams, I hate to contemplate.
May 6th, 2008 at 10:43 PM
If he can’t pass 40% of the white vote, then he has no bloody chance of winning, much less leading a Dem landslide.
May 6th, 2008 at 11:17 PM
Love him or hate him, he’s the best public speaker in American politics since FDR, or maybe even since Huey Long.
May 7th, 2008 at 12:24 AM
Roosevelt? Has Obama got Lester as his “US history advisor”?
May 7th, 2008 at 1:27 AM
And a lot of Hillary’s fans and independents say if he is the nominee they will vote for McCain. For those who are mad at McCain for not being conservative enough or for working across the aisle too much: the result is that he is not a scary conservative to moderate liberals. On the contrary they feel more comfortable with him than with ultra-liberal Obama.
I also trust Americans to see through pretty rhetoric. The jokes and satires about the Obama cult have just been growing. He keeps making the same speech. he’s not that fast on his feet. He keeps having to dig himself out of holes. Obama is the hare and McCain is the tortoise, and slow and steady and unglamorous wins the race.
May 7th, 2008 at 6:35 PM
So long as the economy flounders and the Iraq conflict continues, McCain’s chances dwindle. I’m sure people will argue with me on how neither is McCain’s fault. I also forsee people saying the economy is not all that bad, and the war is going well. What we have to consider is that the general public, in some polls 80% of it, believes the country is headed the wrong way. Obama, if he paints McCain as the candidate who will bring about a third Bust term, will win easily. McCain must distance himself from the PERCEIVED failures of our current administration. Whether, individually, anyone agrees is irrelevant. The public at large is tired of unemployment, mortgage default, and Iraq
May 7th, 2008 at 10:43 PM
jv83,
the public at large doesn’t decide presidential elections, and they don’t blame all of America’s problems–real or imagined–on President bush and the Republican party. You’re pissing in the wind.