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Barack Obama’s on Our Side – But is He a Fighter?
“Barack’s Senate record has been cautious – but he’s not a triangulator,” said an old friend of mine who used to work closely with Barack Obama and was one of his former students at the University of Chicago. “He’s always been an incrementalist, but has the right long-term vision,” said another friend from Chicago who has followed his career closely over the years.
Both of these people are leftists who wouldn’t say such kind words about Obama if they felt that a familiar politician had sold out after reaching the national stage. They’re answering a question that many progressives have about a politician who was unknown less than three years ago – who really is Barack Obama?
As we look ahead to the 2008 Presidential election, Obama is the fresh face that everyone is excited about. He gives us hope, even if we don’t really know much about what he stands for. As he plans to announce his candidacy on Abraham Lincoln’s Birthday, liberals are eager to know more about the guy to see if he’s the candidate to get behind – given the frightening prospect of a Hillary Clinton nomination.
Obama’s new book, “The Audacity of Hope,” offers some insights about who he really is – but I can’t say that I felt either assured or dejected after reading it. If you look beyond the optimistic and eloquent rhetoric that makes it an uplifting book to read, it’s still hard to determine whether Obama would be a visionary President like FDR who moves the country decidedly to the left – or just another Bill Clinton who will sell out for the sake of expediency.
I grew up in Chicago, and actually lived three doors down from Barack Obama – right when he was kicking off his political career with a run for the Illinois State Senate. I never knew him all that well, but I remember him as a staunch progressive who echoed the spirit of the late Mayor Harold Washington.
When he ran for the U.S. Senate in 2004, I fully expected him to be the next Paul Wellstone and was excited to support him when he was the underdog in a crowded primary. When I attended the Democratic National Convention in Boston, I made sure to get a floor pass on the night where he gave his historic keynote address that catapulted him into the national limelight.
But Obama’s record in the Senate has been a mixed bag for many progressives, and has surprisingly been more moderate than his Illinois colleague, Dick Durbin. He voted to confirm Condoleeza Rice for Secretary of State and supported the 2005 Class Action legislation.
He’s been a good vote against George Bush’s Iraq policy and for withdrawal, but we haven’t heard the sense of moral outrage from him that so many of us feel on a daily basis. And if you go to websites like Daily Kos, it won’t be long before you find leftists grumbling about how Obama spends his time lecturing progressives for being too harsh and too partisan in their dismay at Republicans and conservative Democrats.
More
http://www.beyondchron.org/news/index.php?itemid=4096#more
As we look ahead to the 2008 Presidential election, Obama is the fresh face that everyone is excited about. He gives us hope, even if we don’t really know much about what he stands for. As he plans to announce his candidacy on Abraham Lincoln’s Birthday, liberals are eager to know more about the guy to see if he’s the candidate to get behind – given the frightening prospect of a Hillary Clinton nomination.
Obama’s new book, “The Audacity of Hope,” offers some insights about who he really is – but I can’t say that I felt either assured or dejected after reading it. If you look beyond the optimistic and eloquent rhetoric that makes it an uplifting book to read, it’s still hard to determine whether Obama would be a visionary President like FDR who moves the country decidedly to the left – or just another Bill Clinton who will sell out for the sake of expediency.
I grew up in Chicago, and actually lived three doors down from Barack Obama – right when he was kicking off his political career with a run for the Illinois State Senate. I never knew him all that well, but I remember him as a staunch progressive who echoed the spirit of the late Mayor Harold Washington.
When he ran for the U.S. Senate in 2004, I fully expected him to be the next Paul Wellstone and was excited to support him when he was the underdog in a crowded primary. When I attended the Democratic National Convention in Boston, I made sure to get a floor pass on the night where he gave his historic keynote address that catapulted him into the national limelight.
But Obama’s record in the Senate has been a mixed bag for many progressives, and has surprisingly been more moderate than his Illinois colleague, Dick Durbin. He voted to confirm Condoleeza Rice for Secretary of State and supported the 2005 Class Action legislation.
He’s been a good vote against George Bush’s Iraq policy and for withdrawal, but we haven’t heard the sense of moral outrage from him that so many of us feel on a daily basis. And if you go to websites like Daily Kos, it won’t be long before you find leftists grumbling about how Obama spends his time lecturing progressives for being too harsh and too partisan in their dismay at Republicans and conservative Democrats.
More
http://www.beyondchron.org/news/index.php?itemid=4096#more
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Barack Obama is best known for calling for air strikes against Iran. Like all Democrats and Republicans, he supports the US military base in the Middle East to protect US oil profits called Israel, including its murder and torture of Palestinians and theft of Palestinian land. The Democratic Party is running this con artist and all the other worthless Democrats like millionaire Hillary Clinton and Dennis Kucinich to derail and destroy the peace and social justice movements, the only reason the Democratic Party exists, so that the capitalist class can carry out the same rotten agenda that it pays both the Democrats and Republican Party to carry out. The Democrats exist to keep the 2 peace parties out of office: The Reds (in California, Peace & Freedom Party) and the Greens.
Sounds like Hogarth is not exactly dazzled by Barak Obama. Who could-- living three doors away and never really knowing the guy?
Barak may be better than Hillary or John Kerry etc.-- but what does that say? It's like comparing Zuzz to Zazz. (It's all the same product, only difference is the marketing.)
Yawn.
This country needs real courageous leadership and independence of the sort that Cynthia McKinney showed-- but look what the Democratic Party faithful did to her. They practically burned her at the stake for all her heresies.
Obama's exploratory committee is just a scam to get a few suckers (there are actually plenty of them) excited enough to send him money and sell a few more books.
The Party honchos will tell him and all the other political opportunists to get lost when Clinton gets nominated-- and she will because we do not have a real democracy in this country. The parties and their followers are ruled by money.
If I had to wait around at the airport I'd think my own money would be better spent on "Who Moved My Cheese" than on "Audacity of Hope."
John Edwards would be the best Democratic party candidate-- he is tainted by Kerry, but he, more than the others must understand the corruption within.
Barak may be better than Hillary or John Kerry etc.-- but what does that say? It's like comparing Zuzz to Zazz. (It's all the same product, only difference is the marketing.)
Yawn.
This country needs real courageous leadership and independence of the sort that Cynthia McKinney showed-- but look what the Democratic Party faithful did to her. They practically burned her at the stake for all her heresies.
Obama's exploratory committee is just a scam to get a few suckers (there are actually plenty of them) excited enough to send him money and sell a few more books.
The Party honchos will tell him and all the other political opportunists to get lost when Clinton gets nominated-- and she will because we do not have a real democracy in this country. The parties and their followers are ruled by money.
If I had to wait around at the airport I'd think my own money would be better spent on "Who Moved My Cheese" than on "Audacity of Hope."
John Edwards would be the best Democratic party candidate-- he is tainted by Kerry, but he, more than the others must understand the corruption within.
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