Barack Hussein Obama for Prez?

[Elvado]

If nominated, he will stand as the single least qualified major party candidate ever. No executive experience ever and 4 years in the Senate.

What are his credentials? He's young and has a cool name? He did coke while younger? Smoked alot of weed in the projects? Way to go Democrats. There's your standard bearer.

The Audacity of Hope? How about an Audacious dope? Anyone who supports this candidacy is insane.

[TBird41]

He hasn't been a bad senator, but you're right about the fact that he has very few qualifications. Then again, he's got more than Lincoln had when he won.

[hoyatables]

Hey, young and appealing seemed to work well for the GOP in 2000.

[Elvado]

Whatever you may think of the incumbent president, he had two terms as governor of a large state. Actual executive experience if you will.

[RBHoya]

He's the man. My generation will vote for him.

Read the book.

[Elvado]

Then your generation's vote should be rescinded. You might as well vote for Carson Daly.

[Deleted]

Experience isn't necessarily a precursor to good performance.

Franklin Pierce served 8 years in the House (including a stint as Speaker) and one term in the Senate, and is widely considered to be one of the worst Presidents ever. He was also an alcoholic. This may or may not be related...

[RBHoya]

True, and a lot of candidates on both sides don't have executive experience.

Though Obama may be better off doing another term in the Senate and running for President against a rapidly aging McCain in 2012 after McCain whips Hilary in '08.

[nychoya3]

Check into housing prices in Ontario, Elvado, cause that's your next president.

Whatever I may think of our current president, huh? I think he's the worst in the last 100 years of American history. Obama will certainly be able to beat that.

[Deleted]

rbhoya said:

True, and a lot of candidates on both sides don't have executive experience.

Though Obama may be better off doing another term in the Senate and running for President against a rapidly aging McCain in 2012 after McCain whips Hilary in '08.

Why would he be better off to serve another term in the Senate? It's about electability, not experience. If he thinks he can win now, he should run now. And I think he knows that...

[StPetersburgHoya (Inactive)]

Lack of experience may be a good thing in this election. Dems put up 2 qualified candidates in the last 2 elections and voted for them despite not being excited about doing so. GOP experience in the executive also got us into Iraq.

[EasyEd]

Don't know whether or not this is true but there is an email online which says that Obama attended a Wahabi school in Indonesia for a while after his mother remarried another Muslim and relocated to Indonesia. Wahabism is regarded as radical Muslin followed by many terrorists. The email also says he attended a Catholic school for 2 years. Is this important? If true rest assured his Democratic and Republican opponents will talk about it.

[Elvado]

The only appealing piece of this theater of the absurd will be to watch Madame Hillary have to attack Obama as unqualified.

And as for that comment about Ontario, you are out of your mind if you believe this nation (and especially the South) is going to elect Barck Hussein Obama as President. It is a sad but true fact that he will be excluded based upon the sound of his name.

It is a not sad, but still true, fact that he should be excluded by his dearth of qualifications.

[hoyatables]

vadie said:

Whatever you may think of the incumbent president, he had two terms as governor of a large state. Actual executive experience if you will.

Oh, absolutely. I'm just suggesting that the strength of Mr. Bush's appeal in 2000 came from his perceived personality, demeanor, and attitude. As such, its unsurprising to think that charisma and appeal could play a role in 2008, particularly as Mr. Obama is compared to more established personalities.

[washingtonhoya]

ed said:

Don't know whether or not this is true but there is an email online which says that Obama attended a Wahabi school in Indonesia for a while after his mother remarried another Muslim and relocated to Indonesia. Wahabism is regarded as radical Muslin followed by many terrorists. The email also says he attended a Catholic school for 2 years. Is this important? If true rest assured his Democratic and Republican opponents will talk about it.

Not true

It took about fifteen seconds to find this information online. If you are interested in verifying the e-mail rather than posting it regardless of its merits in order to make others implicitly associate Obama with terrorism, (a) Snopes.com is a wonderful resource, and (b) you could have just changed his name to Osama. Subtlety is the key, right?

[Deleted]

ed said:

Don't know whether or not this is true but there is an email online which says that Obama attended a Wahabi school in Indonesia for a while after his mother remarried another Muslim and relocated to Indonesia. Wahabism is regarded as radical Muslin followed by many terrorists. The email also says he attended a Catholic school for 2 years. Is this important? If true rest assured his Democratic and Republican opponents will talk about it.

There have also been emails online that the CIA orchestrated September 11. If true....
The internet has also told me that George W. Bush has done cocaine. If true....
And what about the one that promises me that Microsoft will pay for me to go to Disneyworld if I forward it to 100 people? If true....

And Bill Clinton attended a Catholic school for 4 years. Not sure what point you were making there...

[AustinHoya03]

rbhoya said:

He's the man. My generation will vote for him.

Read the book.

I've got to agree with Elvado here. And I'm not sure of your age, but I'm probably pretty close to "your generation," which, by the way, typically doesn't show up for these election things.

Anyway, all the Obama talk reminds me of a column David Brooks wrote in 2004 during the primaries titled "Electing the Electable." Brooks argued the only thing Kerry really had going for him in '04 was everyone jumping on the bandwagon after the Iowa caucuses. At this point, what does Obama have going for him other than the super-early media attention, which mostly consists of feelings such as "he's the man" and "he 'wrote' a cool book?"

Here's a link to that Brooks column, by the way. You have to scroll down to get to it.

euroblogger.blogspot.com/2004_02_01_euroblogger_archive.html

[nychoya3]

Oh. My. God.

[SoCalHoya]

Meh.

[DFW HOYA]

2008 seems an optimal time for Obama to run, for three reasons:

1. As was pointed out by George Will, you're only a novelty once. (See "Cuomo, Mario.")

2. Half of the population doesn't vote, which is just how the two parties like it. 40% red, 40% blue, spend a lot of money on the middle. Bring in a huge influx of new voters, and all bets are off, which would be good for the political process. The fate of a nation of 300 million people should never come down to how many lawyers can hold up the Florida and Ohio ballot boxes.

3. He is not Hillary R. Clinton, easily one of the most polarizing political figures entering a campaign since Nixon. (Bush the Younger may be polarizing now, but that's after six years in office. HRC hasn't even announced and she is a national lightning rod.) Representing himself as the candidate of the "new" and HRC as "the old" offers an interesting dynamic.

As to being too young, he'll be 47 in 2008, a year older than when Bill Clinton ran in 1992.