2008 Presidental Run

[monet2u]

Guess that answer the question if they should run a black man or a women.


http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f ... 044S72.DTL

Obama Takes 1st Step in Presidential Bid
By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer

Tuesday, January 16, 2007


(01-16) 10:42 PST WASHINGTON, (AP) --


Democratic Sen. Barack Obama on Tuesday took the initial step in a presidential bid that could make him the nation's first black to occupy the White House.


Obama filed papers creating a presidential exploratory committee, a move he announced on his Web site, . He said he would announce more about his plans in his home state of Illinois on Feb. 10.


"I certainly didn't expect to find myself in this position a year ago," Obama said in a video posting. "I've been struck by how hungry we all are for a different kind of politics. So I've spent some time thinking about how I could best advance the cause of change and progress that we so desperately need."


Obama, a 45-year-old with little more than two years into his Senate term, is the most inexperienced candidate considering a run for the Democratic nomination. He quickly rose to national prominence, beginning with his keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention and his election to the Senate that year, but still is an unknown quantity to many voters.


Two best-selling autobiographies — "The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream" and "Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance" — have helped fill in the gaps but have still only touched a fraction of the public.


Nonetheless, he ranks as a top contender. His appeal on the stump, his unique background, his opposition to the Iraq war and the fact that he is a fresh face set him apart in a competitive race that also is expected to include front-runner Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York.


Other Democrats who have announced a campaign or exploratory committee are 2004 vice presidential nominee John Edwards, former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd and Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich.


Obama's announcement was comparatively low-key, banking on the hype building up to his decision to drive the buzz rather than a speech or high-profile media appearance. He was in Washington on Tuesday but did not plan any public appearances.


Obama tried to turn his biggest weakness — his lack of experience in national politics — into an asset by criticizing the work of those who have been in power.


"The decisions that have been made in Washington these past six years, and the problems that have been ignored, have put our country in a precarious place," he said.


"America's faced big problems before," he said. "But today, our leaders in Washington seem incapable of working together in a practical, commonsense way. Politics has become so bitter and partisan, so gummed up by money and influence, that we can't tackle the big problems that demand solutions."


He said Americans are struggling financially, dependence on foreign oil threatens the environment and national security and "we're still mired in a tragic and costly war that should have never been waged."


Barack Hussein Obama was born in 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii, where his parents met while studying at the University of Hawaii. His father was black and from Kenya; his mother, white and from Wichita, Kan.


Obama's parents divorced when he was two and his father returned to Kenya. His mother later married an Indonesian student and the family moved to Jakarta. Obama returned to Hawaii when he was 10 to live with his maternal grandparents.


Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was the first African-American elected editor of the Harvard Law Review. He settled in Chicago, where he joined a law firm and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago's Law School. He also helped local churches establish job training programs for residents of poor neighborhoods and organized a major voter registration drive in the 1992 election.


While working at the corporate law firm Sidley Austin in the summer of 1989, Obama met Michelle Robinson, then an associate attorney at the firm. They married in 1992, and have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.


In 1996, he was elected to the Illinois state Senate, where he earned a reputation as a consensus-building Democrat who was strongly liberal on social and economic issues. He backed gay rights, abortion rights, gun control, universal health care and tax breaks for the poor, but set himself apart from others by working with opponents to resolve policy disagreements and refusing to become a rubber stamp for his allies.


The retirement of Republican Sen. Peter Fitzgerald of Illinois in 2004 drew a raft of candidates to the Democratic primary, but Obama easily outdistanced his competitors. He was virtually assured of victory in the general election when the designated Republican candidate was forced from the race by scandal late in the election. His GOP replacement — conservative gadfly Alan Keyes, who is also black — garnered less than 30 percent of the vote.


Obama insisted during the 2004 campaign and through his first year in the Senate that he had no intention of running for president, but by late 2006 his public statements had begun to leave open that possibility.


Last month, he traveled to New Hampshire, the first-in-the-nation primary state, and drew rock-star size crowds to a speech and book signing.


www.barackobama.com

[Irock]

I'd like to think he has a chance... I'm feeling pessimistic today.

[Rubbs]

Tell Mamma I'm for Obama

[mere1975]

On a related note, kinda, they cast an Obama-alike as a character named Walid on the new season of 24:


If they make him a terrorist, I'll be annoyed.

- Mere "the owner of the FOX network might not like Obama so much" 1975

The real Obama, who is younger and thinner now that I see him again:

[Rebecca]

The last senator to become president was JFK. Why do we keep nominating senators? Why???

I don't think Hillary or Barack has much of a chance, as much as I like them both.

[Sybil]

HILL-A-RY, HILL-A-RY, HILL-A-RY !

Sybil

[aquaphase]

I'd go for Obama. While a woman is far overdue for the big chair, Hillary is too much of a self-serving bitch. Run her and it'd be like handing the red-staters another 4 years on a platter.

[monet2u]

I agree, anyway I think enough of the county is just "that" pissed off they just might vote for a black man to spite the freakin republicans...thank goodness he's a good candidate.

[NerfHerder]

As much as I dislike admitting it, whether or not I like a candidate's personality matters a lot in determining my vote.

I simply don't like Hillary from what I've read about her, although I plan on learning much more in the ensuing months.

But based on my current thoughts on her, I don't like her enough...especially not enough for her to be put in the annals of history as America's first woman president. Hillary is no Jackie Robinson.

[Irock]

I agree, anyway I think enough of the county is just "that" pissed off they just might vote for a black man to spite the freakin republicans...

hmmmm, I hadn't thought of that.

Hillary won't make it (though I'd be happy if that statement's proven wring in the end); and if she did, she'd be as divisive as Georgie. People have assigned her this persona of a ball-busting domineering lesbian-type and I don't get it. The evidence would suggest she "stands by her man," forgives his indiscretions and that she put his carreer ahead of hers. I guess if you say something often enough over a long enough period of time people start to believe it. Even if you are a pill-popping hypocritical conservative pundit.

[sam]

I think it is interesting to hear what Republicans think of HC. She is a symbol for them of a lot of things that have much more to do with what they believe. At any rate, on a national level I just don't it will happen for her.

[Rebecca]

Hillary won't make it (though I'd be happy if that statement's proven wring in the end)

My thoughts exactly.

I wish they would bring someone new into the picture.

Hillary and Barack are front-runners, and the thing about front-runners is that they tend not to do well in the end (anyone remember Howard Dean?).

[Dogatron]

does anyone remember diebold?

what do you guys think obama would bring to politics as president? I think maybe 20 or 30 years ago he would have more impact with solely the 'black president' card, I think nowadays culture is less an 'us and them' in a sense of blacks and whites being divided and more a 'me me me' where people whether black or white are really just looking out for themself and trying to make an individual statement. Maybe him being president may make black people feel like they've accomplishmed something as a whole and maybe self absorbed culture of today would make way for more community spirit which might spill over into the rest of western culture. Maybe black music will be less about material luxury and self obsession and more 'look how far we've come and lets work together to keep moving forward' or maybe my trousers just filled with precum from mental masterbation

[James]

I just hope both parties learned a valuable lesson from 2004 (and possibly 2000)...the majority of America wants a centrist. Bush is FAR too far to the right to do the country any good, but the same can be said of Kerry, who is just as far left as Bush is to the right.

I think the Democrats do have a healthy rank of candidates above and beyond Obama and Clinton; Bill Richardson is particularly interesting. The Republicans might have some too but I'm not sure yet. Certainly, they will come out of their current cloud of neo-fascism and realise (with the loss of the Legislative Branch control) that PEOPLE WANT CENTRIST CANDIDATES!
I guess the closest in the last few decades was Clinton AFTER he was forced to come to the middle with the Republican Legislature...

One of the things that I think helps the Dems is that a lot of their new legislators are very much moderate candidates, which really helps win in overly conservative areas (see Heath Shuler). If they do well in Congress over the next two years, and pick the right candidate to stand for the whole of the country, they'll likely take the White House.

Or then again, both parties could continue to go further and further in their respective directions, and you'll see civil war in America in a decade...

Either way, whoever is president needs to get on board with the Global Warming campaign (be it Kyoto or whatever). In my trip back to Texas, I found the wastefulness most appalling...

[ifihadahifi]

I'm waiting till they pick a winner to vote because I'm tired of always voting for the loser.

I'm 1 for 5 on presidents right now and 0 for However Many on gubners.