February 10, 2007, Obamarama
Fellow Columbia '83'er [yes, on THIS blog, it IS always about me] Illinois' junior senator Barack Obama announced his candidacy for President from the state capitol in Springfield, the situs of Lincoln's "house divided against itself" speech to a crowd of onlookers and supporters... and we'll be damned if Obama's message wasn't largely of the same theme as many of Lincoln's... we'd better come together, we'd better end a lot of the pettiness of our current political era... that sort of thing.
While I doubt that Barack is going to reach back to his college class for campaign staff [no, I didn't know him; indeed, no one I know knew him, which is interesting, given that (1) the class size was only around 800 gentlemen-- Columbia's last all male class, and (2) like mine, Barack's major was political science, specifically international politics; I understand that was a transfer student, he lived off-campus and he kept a low profile]... he enters the 2008 race as the second giant in the race (the first being a former First Lady, with whom I share a birthday and now a state-- see above re: "it's always about me"). This already separates this race from that of 2004, when a group of dwarves vied for the Democratic nomination. (A third Democratic giant will, in my peculiar fantasy, announce his candidacy while accepting a Academy Award in a few weeks... but I digress.)
Most of the blogosphere applauds the third or fourth place guy, John Edwards (one of the dwarves from last time) for hiring two of our own, but then left blogistan is not at all necessarily pleased with the backpedaling "apologies" of those concerned... Let's just say that as a fourth-place guy (third if Gore isn't in), Edwards should either show some backbone and take some chances (and let his new hires stand up and be proud of every God damned word they ever wrote)... or he should, quite frankly, get out of the race. But... that's not how things are done, apparently, at least thus far.
Anyway, Obama (unlike Edwards) remains the shiny new [Lincoln] penny of this race: we still know very little about him, but he continues to impress. Despite his lack of experience, this does seem to be his moment, if he's going to have one. George W. Bush has, in the last six years [with two to go] left a sufficiently large train wreck where the Presidency used to be so that it looks pretty good that the electorate (except Dixie, of course) will be willing to consider either a woman or a man of color, like never before. Indeed, being a Democrat will be a huge advantage in the next cycle... Well, that's what I think anyway. Meaning, the time for Barack Obama may be right now.
Assuming he survives the onslaught of smears and attacks he can expect from both his fellow Democrats and from the right... we may be watching the stuff of political magic. Or, he may prove to be a political flash in the pan. Right now... it's still magic, though... as Mr. Smith Obama goes to Washington...
Comments
Forget color. It's all about the Hussein, baby!!!
Posted by Dick bin Laden Vitale at February 10, 2007 7:36 PM
Obama reminds me uncomfortably of Howard Dean, another candidate beloved of "the netroots" who melted down upon encountering reality.
Of the candidates thus far declared, Bill Richardson has the most impressive resume, closely followed by Hillary Clinton (who will have been senator for 8 years, President for 8 years, and governor of Arkansas for X years by the time of the election -- yeah, I'm being snarky about the President and governor thing :-) . Edwards is a no-show. I saw how he handled the condensed evil that was Darth Cheney at the Veep debates in '04 -- he had a flabbergasted lost look on his face like some of my students got when I handed out the Algebra tests. Edwards is a nice guy, but... he's a nice guy. Too bad.
As for Obama, hasn't the past six years made the dangers of electing an amateur clear enough???
-Badtux the Politics Penguin
Posted by BadTux at February 10, 2007 8:07 PM
BadTux, Bush wasn't an amateur. He was governor of Texas. He's a moron, not a novice.
Obama is inexperienced but probably a million times more competent than Shrub.
Of all the reason to support or not support Obama, comparing him to Bush seem the most inane.
Posted by gail at February 11, 2007 5:29 PM
Gail, the governor of Texas is like the President of Iran -- a ceremonial position with no real power. Obama has more experience than the Shrubbery, not to mention more brains -- hell, my stupid brain-dead cat probably has more brains than the Shrubbery. But fact remains that he lacks the deep experience of someone like Richardson or, yes, Hillary.
Posted by BadTux at February 12, 2007 11:22 PM