this is interesting

[Two Americas]

I think it is as important to look at the followers of a candidate as much or more than the candidate himself or herself. As I said when I first came here, I stand with the Edwards supporters, and I stand with the people Edwards is speaking for. I did not say Edwards is dreamy nor that he is my perfect favorite celebrity.

Obama may or may not be saying "the Hell with the poor." He may or may not be saying "let's toss the traditional positions of the Democratic party." But there can be no doubt now, that those are precisely the messages that his supporters are hearing from him.

That is very clearly revealed by the responses on this thread, for example:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x4252462

The supporters of the other candidates want to play comparative personalities - who is "better" for this or that reason. That disguises the agendas. It is the agendas that matter, not the personalities.

Obama may or may not admire and seek to emulate Reagan's programs - it is hard to discern what he is saying. But his followers sure admire and agree with the key principles of Reaganism.

[smokey nj]

1. I've been following that thread and I'm astounded by the response from

Obama supporters. I think my favorite is "And some poor people are asses. The rich vs. poor argument is shallow at best". Yes it is, however what this Obama supporter fails to realize is that St. Obama the Unifier is the one responsible for the lack of depth because he's the one who used simplistic words to acknowledge a complicated issue. Meanwhile the rest of us are left with nothing but the faint "hope" that his fondness for such framing is merely a political device he's using to get elected and not his actual mindset.

[SeattleGirl]

2. Holy shiite! "And some poor peopleare asses."????????

What the HELL is going on on DU anyway? Have we been completely overrun by freepers?


Edited to add: When I've listened to Obama,I've never gotten the sense that he doesn't care about poor people.

[smokey nj]

3. I shite you not!

I don't doubt that Obama cares about the poor, I'm sure he does. But fighting poverty isn't something that can be done without a fight and he doesn't seem like much of a fighter to me. You should visit the thread, there are some real doozies in there. Also, check out this article from The Nation about his less than encouraging response to the mortgage crisis.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080211/fraser

[NastyRiffraff]

4. The mind reels...

All the Obama supporters could come up with was crap like "some poor people are asses" and "but John Edwards is rich!" and why can't the poor and the rich just get along? And, of course, there's always the ever-popular "that's just the way it is" and "they're too powerful to fight."

And you're right, behind the oratory and the soaring language it's often hard to figure out just what Obama is saying, let alone what he really means.