Politics – ...The primary has been exceptionally good for party building. Obama has created a number of significant infrastructure pieces through his campaign, displacing traditional groups the way he promised he would by signaling the end of the old politics of division and partisanship....
I wish I could share your enthusiasm Scott BUT if this is true it may make me less nervous.If it a true coalition could be reached maybe the radical elements of the dem. party will be prone to moderation.
And that is what makes me nervous about both parties. The failed extremes of both platforms.Perhaps true compromise in the middle could happen which MUST happen if this country is to get out of the economic tragedy among other things.
That's where we part company, rdy2rck. As I state in my bio: I am an unapologetic, unrepentant liberal. I believe what this country needs is more progressive direction. The pendulum has swung so far to the right - especially in the last 7 years - that it is inevitable that it will now go to the left. Politics is cyclical in the United States.
My enthusiasm for Barack Obama is his ability to motivate large - and sometimes disparate - groups of people. I happen to believe his message of hope and change. And I fervently that is exactly what is needed to heal this Nation...
I see your point and agree about the last seven years and I don't see McCain doing anything.
But where we respectfully part is our perceptions. A far swing to the raidcal left is what concerns me. Motivation is great. But neither radical elements in either party are going to accomplish anything IMO.Yes, things need stirred up and this nation needs galvanized but it's my opinion that the fundamental changes need to be moderated and the radical elements in both parties be tamed and changed.
But I will say this. I haven't a clue what I will do when I walk in the booth but as always will pray the winner will rise above the crowd and that includes Obama or McCain. Many presidents have risen when it's been thrust on them. The galvanization I refer to is the determination of the American people to REALLY root out the corruption and must admit I'm a skeptic.Perhaps this article doesn't point to a pie in the sky but a true method of galvanized yet moderated action.
Scott at least you are honest and that is refreshing
So do you see the "displacing traditional groups" as bipartisan and reaching across the aisle or is it building a liberal base of support that hopes to create a majority - traditional liberals plus new liberal voters?
Yes. Barack Obama has activated a new generation of voters unlike any candidate since John F. Kennedy. Of course, traditional liberals will vote for him. And the "Obamacans" (Republicans who support Obama) in the fold are also bound to increase in number because the more we can compare Obama and John McCain 1 on 1, the more the prospect of an Obama presidency will appeal to moderates. Moderates also painfully recognize that the McCain of 2008 is definitely NOT the McCain of 2000...a "maverick" he is no more...
As soon as he builds a bridge, the media and the conservatives try to tear it down again. All I hear on the news is about some poll quoting the black vote or the white vote, blah, blah,blah. It's sickening. If Obama was asian, I'm sure it would be the asian vote that everyone would focus on. Now, if he was white running against another white there wouldn't be a big fuss.
jovial, you are right. For the last 24 hours CNN and Fox have been pushing the politics of division, white against blacks, doves against hawks, the young against old, the working class whites against the "welfare blacks."
It' despicable... and Hillary is generating her share of it.
I 1/2 agree Spade but will be curious to see when McCain gets pulled back in what they will do to him. If the jackals rend that carcass then it's still disgusting but at least fair.
He's got IMO just a big a carcass as the rest.
The media has been treating McCain with kid gloves. McCAin has been given a pass on his endorsement from Hagee and all his waffling, which is quite extensive.
btw... I bet you Hillary will be calling for Obama's impeachment next spring! Ha!
Spade,
In the end, Hillary Clinton will support Barack Obama and the Democratic Party will be united. I didn't neg you, but I do not believe for one minute that Hillary would call for Obama's impeachment...and FOR WHAT? Come on now...
Perhaps you are more jaded than I...but I don't think I'm naïve on this...
Scott
rdy: Look at the companies that own the media. Do you really expect fairness?
Westinghouse-defense contractors.
MURDOCH OWNS- TV
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Television Stations
WNYW - New York City
WWOR - New York City
KTTV - Los Angeles
KCOP - Los Angeles
WFLD - Chicago
WPWR - Chicago
KMSP - Minneapolis
WFTC - Minneapolis
WTXF - Philadelphia
WFXT - Boston
WTTG - Washington D.C.
WDCA - Washington D.C.
KDFW - Dallas
KDFI - Dallas
WJBK - Detroit
KUTP - Phoenix
KSAZ - Phoenix
WUTB - Baltimore
WRBW - Orlando
WOFL - Orlando
WOGX - Ocala
WAGA - Atlanta
KRIV - Houston
KTXH - Houston
WJW - Cleveland
WTVT - Tampa
KDVR - Denver
(continued unfortunately...)
Film-
20th Century Fox
Fox Searchlight Pictures
Fox Television Studios
Blue Sky Studios
Newspapers
United States
New York Post
United Kingdom
News International
News of the World
The Sun
The Sunday Times
The Times
Australia
Daily Telegraph
Fiji Times
Gold Coast Bulletin
Herald Sun
Newsphotos
Newspix
Newstext
NT News
Post-Courier
Sunday Herald Sun
Sunday Mail
Sunday Tasmanian
Sunday Territorian
Sunday Times
I doubt not this at all. But I hear the left screaming right wing bias and vice-a versa but I'm an Orwellian theorist.
I can't splash websites to prove this but believe it.I was told by the CEO of our local PBS stations that at the top of the pyramid(media wise) there are currently two mega-giants that control everthing. Total bias.I hope I'm wrong about this.
But I believe it swings like a pendulum left and right to serve there purposes, money and control being one.So I do believe our media is controlled by very few.
Have they made there choice? Don't know.It's like we discussed a while back. Are our elections reached the point of being a chess game for the masses? I hope not.But the same principle exists with the media. We are being spoon fed whatever a few decide for themselves.
The devastation to America has already been done. When America should have pulled together to overcome those who only lived to see her dead, the weak turned against our own instead those who conspired against us.
Obama has no experience, no plans, and has not even begun to stand up to big oil.
Those who see where that is leading should know where Obama's pockets are hoped to be lined in the future.
Who among you would stand for another minute of America being raped by big oil if you were America's leader?
We already know where McCain's and Clinton's pockets are lined, and at present, by your own admission, you perceive that Obama's pockets "hope" to be lined in the future, yet, he is the only one of the three who hasn't taken lobbyists money and speaks out against doing so. Don't you think that includes Oil lobbyists too? There is always the possibility Obama will succumb to political corruption, most of them, save people like Ron Paul, have already done so, but I like his message of hope and think he deserves the chance to prove history wrong. Maybe he is the next Bobby Kennedy with a populist flare?
You all sound like a bunch of Commie Socialists. Why don't you all grow up and take responsibility for your own lives instead of wanting the Government to take over?
All Obama will give you is more taxes, more government, less freedom, and lots of change for the worse.
You all make me sick listening to your whining.
It won't matter though because he has no chance of winning. Especially after losing Michigan and Florida votes.
Nobody will vote Democrat in those states after not counting every one of their votes.
Just another nail in Obama's coffin along with his racism,
poor judgement of friends, and being anti American.
We ran our national debt up 500% to win WWII. Afterwards, we put a powerfully progressive tax structure in place and paid it back down.
America's wealthy cheered when John F. Kennedy cut the top bracket from 90% to 70%. Even when it was 90%, the wealthiest 1% of Americans still consistently owned between 25 and 30% of all the wealth in America.
With the Regan revolution, that fell apart. The wealthy began to grab more and more of all that there is here. The Bush tax cuts for the rich took the top bracket down to just 33%. Today, the wealthiest 1% own 50% of all the wealth in the nation, just as they did after years of Republican rule in 1929, before the Great Depression.
If you are in the top 4% of income earners, you have done well under Bush. If you are in the other 96%, you didn't get a tax break. Other costs ate the tiny handout up almost the day you got it. And you haven't even STARTED to pay of the $10 trillion in debt that was your real tax INCREASE.
It's really a shame, although not unexpected in the least, that you really don't know squat about the difference between Communism and Socialism for if you did you wouldn't combine the terms.
I would far rather pay more in taxes than continue to jeopardize our national security as Bush has done by borrowing so heavily from foreign nations, especially China, but I can see where you might object given how little you and all the other neoclowns hate this Nation and its Constitution.
Over the past 7.5 years, under the inept leadership of GW Bush and the kneejerk support of koolaid swilling sycophants like yourself, we have seen a dramatic increase in the size of government, the passage of restrictive laws limiting personal freedoms, massive increases in the National Debt, and the honor and integrity of this Nation besmirched and besmeared to name but a few from a long list of ills!
btw sparky, although it's doubtful you will comprehend this, Obama didn't run in either Fl or Mi!
It is clear to me that electing either Clinton or McCain is a vote for more of the same old Washington BS. We will add Iran to our war in the Middle East, and probably Syria and Lebanon as well. Whatever the neocons in Israel want, we will do.
I am definitely willing to give Obama a chance. The far left of the Democratic Party has kept us from developing any rational strategy for energy independence. There are some things Republicans are right about. We do need someone with a voice that can bridge the partisan divide and bring about change from the bottom up.
If we stay on our present course, America is on track for third world status in a few more decades. That's not my dreams for my children and grandchildren.
Great post, Scott. I agree that Obama is the only one of the three candidates left who has a snow balls chance in hell of uniting anyone in this country. The other two will just keep the status quo of George Bush and Company, which means moving our country further and further toward Corporate fascism.
Delusional. Only the perception of Bush gives the Democrats ANY hope of beating McCain in November. If Obama does end up as the nominee, the Democrats should prepare for Electoral disaster. All of the candidates have flaws, but Obama's flaw are of the type that disqualify him to many who would otherwise vote for him. My mother-in-law is a hardcore Democrat who thinks the Clintons walk on water. She has made it clear as day that if Obama get nominated, McCain gets her vote EVEN THOUGH SHE AGREES WITH OBAMA ON MOST ISSUES. Why? Wright and Ayres. Anyone who could maintain relationships with either of them is unqualified in her eyes.
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Matt Stoller is spot-on here. I have been stressing many of these points for quite a while.
I believe we may be on the verge of an American renaissance.
I will not hesitate to vote for Obama. In fact, I have never been so excited to vote for a candidate in my entire adult life!
Exceptionally good for party-building? All we have read and heard these past few months is how embittered and fractured the process made the Democrat party. Howard Dean implored delegates to make up their minds and announce their support long before the national committee to stop the bleeding. Hillary still hasn't given up.
Now all of a sudden it's a "consolidation."
Uh huh ... right.
Well, maybe you could liken it to how every conservative Republican couldn't stand John McCain, but now they're cheering in the streets about how good he is.
You could only really liken it to that if Hillary were no longer in the race.
I would love the opportunity to vote for Barak Obama. The closest I've come so far is "uncommited democrat".