Monday, December 11, 2006

Does Obama know who votes in a Democratic Primary?

I wonder if he understands who he'll be running against. Via Illinois Review

In the segment narrated by Fox News' Carl Cameron, possible Democratic presidential primary candidate Barack Obama remarked:

"Are there those voters who won't vote for me because I'm African-American? Yes . . .of course, they're likely to be the same ones who won't vote for me because of my politics. . . "
He would have done well to fall back on Charles Krauthammers column: Obama Can Win by Losing.
Of course there is racism in America. Call me naive, but I believe that just as Joe Lieberman was a net positive for the Democrats in 2000 -- more people were attracted to him as a man of faith than were turned away because of anti-Semitism -- there are more Americans who would take special pride in a black president than are those who would reject one because of racism.
And then move on to the next point which is what Obama really needs to overcome 'cause Clinton will rake him over the coals on it.
These are strong reasons for Obama to run.

Nonetheless, he will not win. The reason is 9/11. The country will simply not elect a novice in wartime.
It's wartime Senator. Keep talking like this and you'll lose either way.

9 comments:

Anonymous,  7:35 AM  

This "novice," Obama, predicted the problems with going to war in Iraq better than the "experienced" George W. Bush:

Now let me be clear: I suffer no illusions about Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal man. A ruthless man. A man who butchers his own people to secure his own power.… The world, and the Iraqi people, would be better off without him. But I also know that Saddam poses no imminent and direct threat to the United States, or to his neighbors…and that in concert with the international community he can be contained until, in the way of all petty dictators, he falls away into the dustbin of history.

I know that even a successful war against Iraq will require a U.S. occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences. I know that an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East, and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of al-Qaeda.

Bill Baar 7:44 AM  

Looks to me like he feared the unknown. Hardly irrational, but something you have to confront.

We helped create the first Shia state in the Arab world. We empowered Aytollah Sistani and his followers who I think represent some of the best thinking in the Muslim world.

I stay stick with these allies because the reality is life is filled with a lot of unknowns.

You can't elect a guy President (or sentator) who's going to be paraylized until he or she is certain.

You'll be dead first if you wait like that.

Anonymous,  7:46 AM  

Candidates can solve their inexperience problems, regardless of the subject, by surrounding themselves with recognized experts, even during the campaign.

And any complaints about lack of "experience" are immediately questionable given the current former Governor. Look what that experience got us.

I expect that all candidates for the presidency will be queried often on their choice for Secretary of Defense (and probably State too).

pathickey 8:01 AM  

Senator Obama's giving of a bad answer to a leading question tells more about who is around the Senator than what is in his heart.

". . .they're likely to be the same ones who won't vote for me because of my politics. . . "

There is the clue - a progressive spin-meister wants his "Obama candidacy" to scratch out Moral High ground - effectively indicating that if one were to not choose his candidacy one would be painted with a race brush - the politics of elitism. Stand with Us and be Purified.

That is a sure sign of hard times to come. Had Senator Obama more professional and effective advisers around him he might have answered

'What does race have anything to do with the audacity of hope? Come on, it's a New Century; let's bury that stupid question. The way to get a grip on the rising costs of medical coverage in this country is . . .'

When the Dean Demi-crats say 'Move On' is means go from 1964 to 1967. No wonder my Party keeps losing with such aplomb.

Anonymous,  8:04 AM  

Bill,

I don't think Obama was "afraid of the unknown." His exact words ("I know that ...") indicate a better appreciation of the consequences and costs of an invasion that our current decider-in-chief has. The bottom line here is that Obama was exactly right, and George W Bush was exactly wrong. As a result, I don't think that American voters can hold a perceived lack of foreign policy experience against Obama.

And if you think that we have a functioning Shia state in Iraq . . . well, I don't think there's much to discuss here. We live in different realities.

Anonymous,  8:30 AM  

Bill is right about Obama's lack of experience and Other is right about Bush's. Bush was re-elected because he was President at the time of 9-11. If the presidential election was in 2002 instead of 2000, he never would have been given the nomination by the GOP, let alone made it to the White House. It's silly for Democrats to use Bush as an example of why experience doesn't matter, when his failures have made it clear that solid experience is more necessary than ever.

Anonymous,  1:48 PM  

Bush's problem isn't his lack of experience prior to his presidency. His problem is that he is stubborn to the point of delusion and is willfully ignorant to the point of insanity.

Anonymous,  7:35 PM  

Why do liberals get "side-tracked" so conveniently with slamming (blaming) President Bush when they are unable to truthfully answer or comment on their own people/issues? Thank you, Bill Baar, for posting Sen. Obama's racist comment about who he says would not vote for him. What if the situation were reversed and a Republican had implied something racist like Sen. Obama did - it would be headline news for weeks, or until the media took that Republican down and out.

Anonymous,  10:35 AM  

Anon 7:35 p.m.

It is pretty well discussed that African-Americans will not vote for conservative Republicans.
Tons of people talk about that. It is a major issue for the GOP.

Incidently, there is also a "gender gap" that is widely discussed.

Even FoxNews discusses the issue, but their discussion is more of a whining than a discussion, but still, it has been discussed even there.

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