MJ,
I should add that I voted for Barack Obama in 2004, although my vote was probably as much anti-Keyes (a truly reprehensible human being, as we discovered in Illinois) as it was pro-Obama. I am a moderate conservative and I would have voted for Jack Ryan if he had remained in the race.
Obama is a liberal with a relatively modest legislative record and he has virtually no experience in foreign affairs. To date, he has been somewhat disingenuous about his specific political beliefs, but that will have to change once he announces he is running for president. Because of his inexperience, I do not think that he is electable at the national level in 2008, though he may be in future years. It is difficult to imagine that I would actually vote for him in 2008 (unless the GOP nominates Alan Keyes). The Republicans do not have to point out Obama’s deficiencies; Hillary will vivisect him if he presents a real challenge to her.
I will readily admit that I like Obama at a personal level. He is charming, intelligent and a White Sox fan. I would enjoy having a beer with him. He should give me a call. We can take in a game.
One of the things that I find refreshing about Obama is that he has been able to transcend the historical black-white divide. He comes across as a post civil rights ear figure, an African-American leader without the perception of having a “chip” on his or her shoulder. That is not to say that there has not been cause for the chip, but there are ways of advancing an agenda without positioning that agenda in such a manner that it becomes a crusade to atone for the sins of ancestors long dead.
I do believe, and the polls back this up, that a minority candidate can be elected to a national office in the U.S. Had Colin Powell chosen to run in 1996, I do believe that he would have beaten Bill Clinton. Harold Ford did not lose because of one ad that was more tacky than racist (if it was actually racist, which I doubt); he lost because he was not the best candidate. Weeks before the ad was run, he had already started to come across as petulant and cranky. It became hard to visualize him as a Senator. If someone decided that they were not going to vote for Ford because he was black, they made that decision long before the ad was run.
Regards,
Glenn |
