In this Discussion
- agentnumone September 2008
- beckysioux November 2008
- canoe7grape October 2008
- chancefrench11 December 2009
- darbie_starpower December 2009
- DJRose December 2009
- dollarflame6 October 2008
- jedi_grrlie September 2008
- llama0engine November 2008
- manx9shrine June 2008
- moveadvice72 September 2008
- Pearl June 2008
- QueenofthePosers June 2008
- redsusan47 November 2008
- spy9black June 2008
- Surfer Rosa January 2009
- swissfeast68 November 2008
- target35ghost August 2008
- Tempe Arizona November 2008
- thephantommilk November 2008
- tune1shade November 2008
- women60banana November 2008
Congrats to Obama and to all of us
On the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's "I Have a Dream" speech, Senator Barack Obama will give his nomination speech, having today clinched the nomination, meeting the required number of delegates. He brings goodness back to American politics and he restores to all of us the American Dream. I am so very proud to have voted for him and to have campaigned for him, and I will be so proud to call him my president, my representative to the world. All of us have come together and we will continue to come together, to make this great country even greater. Congratulations, USA!
Our new leader, a leader beside us and not in front of us:
Our first family
Michelle Obama, you are a hero to females everywhere!
Our new leader, a leader beside us and not in front of us:
Our first family
Michelle Obama, you are a hero to females everywhere!
Comments
NOW WE JUST HAVE TO MAKE SURE THAT WE UNITE AGAINST McCAIN!
And keep our eyes WIDE OPEN for election fraud because the cons won't be giving up the power without some crazy shenanigans. I don't put anything past them.
It's had become frustrating to watch Clinton. I had really liked her at first and thought she was forward with her policies and whatever else. But again and again she continued to misspeak. I do think that some of her misquotes were blown out of proportion by the media, but she should have known better than to say things that could have been construed as such in the first place.
I really wish that with him comes the best to the US and to the world...
List of possible running mates for Obama
List of possible running mates for Obama
My 2 cents:
Hillary Clinton is the antithesis of everything Obama runs on. Nobody is more of a Washington Insider than a First Lady. She had 200 superdelegates pledged to her before any primary election had ever happened- they were with her because she's who she is, not because she represents something new. The nomination was supposed to be hers; she was the frontrunner for months. And despite all that name recognition, all that loyalty, all those connections, all that money, she ended up 30 million in debt and she lost. She lost to a newbie. She has not shown herself to be vice president material. She is also divisive and republicans hate her- she would make us lose the crossover vote.
And it's so messed up- Hill's campaign manager introduced her on stage as "the next president," last night. Instead of having class and congratulating Obama on vastly exceeding the required number of delegates, she was all, "email me, my supporters. I haven't made a decision."
My dream team is Obama/Edwards. If not Edwards, I'd love to see Jim Webb, Kathleen Sibelius or Claire McCaskill on the ticket.
PS:
The other thing is, when asked why she's running, Hillary mentioned an assassination. I don't care if she was "giving a timeline"- there is absolutely no reason to ever mention an assassination. If any of us said that, we'd have the FBI after us. I'm not saying she'd have him killed (*cough, cough, Vince Foster*) but I do think she and her followers would make me nervous.
It's perfect, people. Seriously. Rell, governor of Connecticut (BEST STATE EVER, not that I'm biased), is a *very* moderate republican-in-name-only. But, she's still a woman, and still counts herself as repub. It's a UNITY TICKET. Hear me out.
This woman holds the distinction of being the sitting governor of the FIRST state to grant civil unions to same-sex couples WITHOUT Judicial impetus. They did it because it was the logical, honorable next step. And she signed it cheerfully into law. The woman is RIDICULOUSLY popular in CT, with both Dems and Repubs (and CT is a Dem stronghold). In fact she has one of the highest approval ratings in the nation.
Choosing Jodi Rell is brilliant because while yes, she is a republican, she's a sensible, non-hateful one. It shows that Obama is the Uniter he promises to be. She is no stranger to stepping into a mess and cleaning it up - originally when she took the governor's office she was a Lt. Gov. stepping in for prior Gov. John Rowland (aka, BIG EFFING WANKER) after he was embroiled in controversy, and she took the mantle and ran. I LOVE Jodi Rell. I would move back to Connecticut JUST to live in her jurisdiction. Have I mentioned that Jodi Rell is my favorite CT politician (even over Chris Dodd who's pretty fantastic)? JODI RELL.
This, mind you, will probably not happen.
My 2 cents re: Hill for VP? Bad Idea. Jimmy Carter made an excellent point today when he pointed out that rather than it being a dream team, it's just going to remind people of all the negative feelings they've been having for the last 6 months. It brings out the negatives, not the positives of the ticket.
Jimmy Carter is my main man
I don't always agree with him, but I have to say he's right on this point.
(And this is my 1980th post. The year I was born and his last full year in office. CREEPY).
I'm with you guys and Jimmy Carter on the running mate thing too. Plus she seems to want ANY position of power so badly, and I don't think I'd trust someone like that.
You can't just say 'Hillary is divisive' and ignore how divisive Obama will be. I've personally never thought it mattered, but 1 in 5 voters in Kentucky admitted voting for anyone BUT him because he's black, and an astounding large number of Americans think that he's Muslim. I'm desperately hoping that this election doesn't get ugly, but it's a distinct possibility. The US might be about to show how racist it really is, despite all these years of pretending racism isn't there.
That said, I'm happy that this part of the race is finally over, but I'm not about to start calling Obama my president because the next few months are going to be about a million times harder. He still has a LOT to overcome to get to the Oval Office. McCain has only been strengthened by this long battle.
Hillary as VP would be a mistake. That ticket couldn't win--she should get a position in his Cabinet, but he really does need someone (unfortunately probably a white male) from within the establishment to reach moderates and those less interested in 'radical change' who are looking for experience.
But as for Hillary, who has been vilified in the media while Obama gets dream-candidate treatment--yes, she's part of the establishment, but that IS AMERICAN POLITICS. It would never have been an issue in the past because there's never been a candidate from outside the fold. She had HUGE public support and was the first viable female candidate for President. She's not evil, and no more divisive than Obama. Nothing can ever be fixed in the US if we continue all these vitriolic statements about people on both sides. Yes, she has mispoken, but she has also received incredibly unfair treatment from the media and managed to handle it all with dignity. STOP with the hatred and anger--you're contributing to the problem instead of helping find a solution. Let it go and concentrate on the future. Wouldn't it be depressing if McCain won this election cause Dems were all too focused on hating Hillary or Obama to unite?
(my 2 cents from across the pond, hope it made sense cause my use of the English language has deteriorated quite a bit over the last year)
That said, I'm happy that this part of the race is finally over, but I'm not about to start calling Obama my president because the next few months are going to be about a million times harder. He still has a LOT to overcome to get to the Oval Office. McCain has only been strengthened by this long battle.
Hillary as VP would be a mistake. That ticket couldn't win--she should get a position in his Cabinet, but he really does need someone (unfortunately probably a white male) from within the establishment to reach moderates and those less interested in 'radical change' who are looking for experience.
But as for Hillary, who has been vilified in the media while Obama gets dream-candidate treatment--yes, she's part of the establishment, but that IS AMERICAN POLITICS. It would never have been an issue in the past because there's never been a candidate from outside the fold. She had HUGE public support and was the first viable female candidate for President. She's not evil, and no more divisive than Obama. Nothing can ever be fixed in the US if we continue all these vitriolic statements about people on both sides. Yes, she has mispoken, but she has also received incredibly unfair treatment from the media and managed to handle it all with dignity. STOP with the hatred and anger--you're contributing to the problem instead of helping find a solution. Let it go and concentrate on the future. Wouldn't it be depressing if McCain won this election cause Dems were all too focused on hating Hillary or Obama to unite?
(my 2 cents from across the pond, hope it made sense cause my use of the English language has deteriorated quite a bit over the last year)
I agree with all of this. Well said.
Actually, that's not true. It's a Clinton talking point that she's been treated unfairly, but the reality is far from it. A study came out 2 days ago analyzing this claim, and comparing total media coverage between Obama, McCain and Clinton. It found that Clinton and Obama are roughly the same in negative and positive coverage, and McCain was disproportionately high in positive coverage.
Moreover, everybody seems to entirely and completely forget that just a few months ago, Hillary was the frontrunner. She was hailed as the inevitable nominee before any primary had even taken place. Jon Stewart just last night highlighted the coverage that lambasted Obama as a joke and praised Hillary as unstoppable. How easily people forget...
It's merely a Clinton talking point that she was treated unfaily. In reality, every pundit and every media outlet was supporting her enormously as the no-questions-asked definite and irrevocable choice. It was only when suddenly voters, not the media but the voters, began looking elsewhere that Hillary raised the flag of mistreatment. It's the same strategy as her attitude to MI and FL- her own campaign adviser, Harold Ickes, was part of the head committee that stripped their delegates, and she agreed with him and the party rules at the time. When she began losing, suddenly there was a tragedy she had to embody.
Frankly, I'm sick of people saying she got poor treatment, because she didn't. For every Hillary nutcracker (and since when was it a bad thing for people to say you're strong enough to crush guys' nuts? Do people really prefer that she be called weak?) there was a tshirt with Obama as an ape and the words "the black candidate" underneath (and yes, it is unequivacably a bad thing to be called a black ape). For every Hillary "Iron My Shirt" moment, there were fifty "nig*er" moments for Obama. It's disgusting that her campaign walked around saying she was mistreated.
Even worse, people polled who considered gender important tended to vote for Hillary. That is, her gender helped her. Whereas, people polled who said race was important tended to vote for Hillary. That is, Obama's race harmed him. So please, please, please, don't advocate the idea that somehow Hillary was "mistreated" and acted with dignity. Neither are true.
And for the record, everything I wrote in my post in this thread about Hillary I had written because someone had explicitly invited us all to discuss and debate Hillary as a running mate. It's offputting that a reply would tell me to "STOP with the hatred" when I was giving my honest response to a question.
I do think that anybody who would declare that she would "obliterate" an entire country is evil- I'm not going to hide that I think mass homicide is evil. And that was not a "misspeak" moment- she was describing her attitude towards Iran, and this is not the first time that she has advocated hostility and violence with regard to Iran (and let's not get into Iraq, sigh). There are many reasons that I, along with many other people, do not like her or respect her, and none of those reasons have anything to do with her body. It's incongruous to compare the kind of divisions Hillary creates by her policies and choices with racism that might appear because of Obama's blood.
*currently ordering Obama garb*
I agree w/ Sarah, too. Although, I don't think her comments were directed particularly at you or anyone in fact, at ALL.
Generally, the divisiveness and the hatred in these campaigns are going to make it really really difficult for Obama to win now. It would DEFINITELY be better if both the Hillary and Obama parties would get over it and focus against McCain now, not against each other.
You are very obviously an Obama supporter, and Obama needs to win over Hillary's people. If you and people like you keep villifying Hilllary, that's gonna be harder for him to accomplish. So now, more than ever, it's bad for everyone to keep up the hatred and vitriolic-ness that has been the hallmark of this battle so far.
And I do think that as candidates, like Sarah said, they were equally as divisive- maybe not for the right reasons, as you pointed out, but it's still a fact and still something that needs to be recognised. It's not right, or good, but in many ways Obama is as divisive as Hillary, even if it's because of race vs. policies.
I know you don't like Hillary, heck, I don't particularly like her, but I'm not going to let my dislike distract me from the real goal, which is to get Obama as president.
as for VP, I think it would be brilliant if Obama chose a more liberal/moderate Republican, or at least it would be the most interesting/exciting ticket imaginable, but I don't think that'll happen- what with his already being an outsider of the big Dem party people, he also needs to appease them and appease all the Hillary supporters as well. =/ it's gonna be a tough decision, haha, I don't envy him at all.
I haven't seen anything about this study of media treatment of the two, but everything I've seen in the media has in fact been very one-sided. However, I've been watching the whole process from Europe so the sources I read are obviously different than the ones you read, and I haven't seen t-shirts for or against either candidate so perhaps she wasn't treated as badly as it seems to me from here. Obama certainly got off very lightly in all the coverage here.
Moreover, except for the post in this thread that I wrote in response to someone's explicit invitation to discuss Hillary as a running mate for Obama, all my previous posts were made in the context of a very heavy contest between the two; it's anachronistic to say that there should have been more unity at such a time.
The study was conducted by Harvard's Joan Shorenstein Center on Press, Politics and Public Policy in collaboration with the Pew Research Center.
And yes, it was a study of American media...I don't know anything about European media, but honestly, the European media has no affect on how most Americans vote.
They concluded that coverage for the two was almost identical in positives and negatives, with Obama getting slightly more negative coverage once Pastorgate happened.
I'm so happy. I knew he would do it. Now let's hope he'll win the election (which he will haha).
Moreover, except for the post in this thread that I wrote in response to someone's explicit invitation to discuss Hillary as a running mate for Obama, all my previous posts were made in the context of a very heavy contest between the two; it's anachronistic to say that there should have been more unity at such a time.
Well I apologize, I'm glad you are this involved as a voter but I guess I got a much different vibe from things you had posted in the past. I didn't say there should have been more unity in the past and I understand that obviously divisions should exist during the primary season, but that doesn't mean I'm not still really fed up with a lot of the emotions that appeared in the last year as the primaries progressed--I do appreciate that you have done the research to back up your positions. I'm sorry, I can't give this response the proper amount of thought right at this moment (finals are such a bitch) so I'll try to explain myself better later.