What is it with Democratic wannabee candidates?

[Mass]

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20060917/D8K6TGTO0.html

After Bayh earlier this week-end and Warner earlier this year, Obama has qualms about Democratic security positions.

Obama: Dems Need Tough Security Stance
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Sep 17, 7:21 PM (ET)

By MIKE GLOVER

INDIANOLA, Iowa (AP) - Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., warned Democratic activists Sunday that the party must take a tougher stance on national security if it wants to succeed in the November elections.

Do they really need to help the GOP with this talking point?

[TayTay]

1. I agree, he is buying into the wrong script

He should talk about the incompetence angle. Did you see the story in the WaPo today about the political hires that the CPA did in Iraq right after the Fall of Baghdad. OMG, those people couldn't do anything right and competence was not something that was even on the job requirement.

Sen. Obama should be on the offensive, not the defensive. I still like him and find him an impressive speaker, but he is still a newbie and a 'work in progress' as far as his political skills go.

[ProSense]

2. Paraphrasing

Obama: Bush is really not a bad man, he just has a different view of what America should be!

How does that square with this:

Bush lied the country into war and is now seeking to legalize torture!


People from all sides of the political spectrum and religious leaders are imploring Bush to reject torture and Obama feels the need to emphasize that Bush's views are just a difference of opinion!

Note: when he said it the audience groaned! Sometimes I don't get him!

[karynnj]

3. Also, why not back the only Democratic National Security position

that was clearly articulated. Kerry outlined a position and some are following at least parts of it.

I hate that 2008 politics prevented Democrats from echoing the various Republican concessions that Kerry was right on national security in 2004. Obama has no background in national security, but neither does Hillary or Warner - Bayh's has some.

[Mass]

4. I also caught criticisms of those who are trying to lead the party,

criticisms of self-appointed leaders (no idea of what he was talking), but it was when I was just starting to watch, so I may be missing a context.

However, generally speaking, Sept 2006 seems to be a weird moment to criticize your party leadership, even if it needs to be criticized. Should we not be working all in the same direction: to get a majority in te Congress?

[whometense]

5. I wonder if he's suffering a bit from a swelled head?

The Carpetbagger had a post the other day talking about Obama visiting Iowa, and about the number of people urging hime to run for president in 2008.

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/8478.html

Obama buzz makes a comeback


I'm still skeptical that Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) would launch a presidential campaign in 2008, and the senator himself has expressed no interest in the race at all, but if you listen to the Washington Post's Chris Cillizza, a new "Obama '08" boomlet is about to begin.

After watching Illinois Sen. Barack Obama (D) closely over the last few months, we've grown more and more convinced that he will come under significant pressure to at least consider a run for president in 2008.

While Obama — and his staff — continue to deny any interest in a national bid in two years time, his actions seem to belie his comments on the subject.

The latest evidence? Obama will be the special guest of Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin (D) at his annual steak fry held this Sunday at the Warren County Fairgrounds in Indianola. Harkin has hosted the event for the past 29 years, and it has become a regular stop for presidential aspirants. Harkin's guest in 2005 was former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, who is widely expected to run for president again in 2008.

It's probably worth adding that organizers sold more tickets to this year's steak fry than ever before, suggesting, once again, that Obama has real star power.

And to add to the mix, Obama will be joined in Iowa by Steve Hildebrand, a sought-after Dem consultant with excellent experience as a campaign manager and field organizer, who managed Al Gore's Iowa caucus victory in 2000. Cillizza quoted Hildebrand as describing Obama as "the biggest star in American politics."

It's not just DC; the talk is starting to resonate in Obama's home state of Illinois as well.

State Comptroller Dan Hynes urged his former opponent, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, to run for president, just days before Obama heads to Iowa for a major political event.

"We are a nation divided like at almost no other time in our history," Hynes said Thursday during a downtown news conference to announce his support for Obama. "I believe Barack Obama can change this, that he, and he alone can restore the hope and optimism that has made this country great."

The comments from Hynes are among the strongest to date from a Democratic official about the prospect of an Obama presidential bid.

I still think it's unlikely, but I'll be curious to see if this talk continues, and what effect, if any, it has on Obama. As Cillizza concluded, "The smart money is still on him waiting until 2012 or 2016, but this latest development has to give even those most pessimistic about an Obama '08 bid some pause."

I've said this before, but this kind of thing makes me crazy. Every time someone shows up with a modicum of charm/charisma/personality the cry goes up from the masses: RUN FOR PRESIDENT. It's like freaking American Idol. Can't he just learn to be a senator first, since that's the job he applied for and won?

I don't understand his appeal, frankly. He's pretty conservative, and I personally hate all the god talk. He's a good speaker, but he's wet behind the ears.

[karynnj]

11. "managed Al Gore's primary win in 2000"

That was not all that difficult - Bradley got a huge amount of flack for even running.

I see his appeal he is an inspiring speaker, charismatic and good looking. So was 1986 John Kerry, who was nowhere the skilled politician that Kerry 2004 was.

[whometense]

22. Walter Shapiro weighs in

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/09/18/obama/

Obama in '08?

The first-term Illinois senator lit up the party faithful in Iowa, igniting much speculation and securing his status as an alternative to Hillary Clinton.

By Walter Shapiro
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Photo: AP/Lawrence Jackson

Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., in his Capitol Hill office in July.

Sept. 18, 2006 | INDIANOLA, Iowa -- Barack Obama made a speech Thursday night in Louisville, Ky., before 5,000 cheering Democrats, and he got little more than a nice write-up in the Louisville Courier-Journal. Obama made a similar speech here Sunday afternoon to 3,000 party activists at the biggest event on the Iowa Democratic calendar -- and the electric response among the press was that the first-term Illinois senator is all but running for president in 2008.

Yes, everything is location, location, location...

...Nothing in the speech -- save perhaps for a coy "I'm going to have to come back to Iowa again" -- did much to unravel whether Obama will have the temerity or the moxie to jump into the 2008 presidential race little more than two years after he was first elected to national office. The senator is certainly taking far more rhetorical pains than, say, Gore to keep his options open. Obama's disavowal of interest in 2008 seems more Swiss-cheese-esque than Sherman-esque. Like other reporters granted similar brief interviews Sunday, I tried to pin Obama down and instead got the beginning of the putative candidate's standard wind-up-toy answer: "I was asked the day after I was elected and I said that I was not running. Two years later, nothing has changed my mind. But you never know. The world is --" At this point I broke in to ask, "You mean things can change?" Obama replied surprisingly directly, "Yeah, things can change."

It is easy to come up with contingencies that could change Obama's mind, from Hillary Clinton deciding to stay in the Senate (a seismic event that would transform the Democratic landscape) to a growing "Run, Barack, Run!" groundswell (the senator will publish his second autobiography, "The Audacity of Hope," next month) to a void opening up if, say, the Democratic front-runner stumbles badly late next year.

What surprised me as I talked to random Iowans at the steak fry, though, was a palpable worry that Obama might lose his gilt-edged glow if he sought the nomination too soon in his career. Two years after his stirring keynote address at the convention in Boston, many Democrats already regard Obama as the greatest natural talent in the post-Clinton party. As Iowa attorney general Tom Miller said to me shortly after Obama left the stage, "A great speech. You can't beat charisma." ...

[karynnj]

6. Self-appointed?

Wouldn't that be a fair criticism of Hillary than Kerry, who after all did legitimately win the right to claim a leadership role. But, I agree with you - why attack any Democrat. Is this going to be replayed?

[Mass]

8. I dont know who he was aiming. It may be anybody. I miss the context.

but it is still a weird moment to criticize your party.

[Mass]

13. Here is the quote. I imagine it could be about Republicans only,

But, frankly, this is not clear from the speech, IMHO.

In his speech to more than 2,000 activists gathered in a county park, Obama also warned that many voters are losing hope that the government is on their side.

"Even those of us in public life get a certain cynicism," he said. "We've got a lot of self-important leaders who are long on rhetoric and short on ideas.

"People still believe that in America the promise is limitless, but they aren't sure their leaders do."

[JanusAscending]

19. He was talking about the Republicans and their rhetoric, and

referring especially to Bush and Cheney. Thus the "self appointed."(He didn't say self important as the paper quotes) Personally, I think a lot of y'all are being way too hard on him. I see great things for him, and this doesn't make me any less loyal to our wonderful Senator! I wish someone could get the "skinny" on what JK thinks of Obama. If he had any say in the Dem. National convention, and he chose Obama for the "keynote" address, that speaks volumes to me!:shrug:

[Mass]

21. If AP is totally lying as some are suggesting, Obama should make a stink

out of it.

He cannot let the newsmedia go around and say he said Democrats are not tough in defense. This is damaging for the party. Same thing goes for Bayh.

Everybody until November should be careful not to say something that can be exploited against Democrats, particularly when they have the type of visibility Obama, Kerry, Edwards, or Clinton have.

(BTW, it is not about Kerry - I have criticized Kerry many times when I thought he was wrong).

[blm]

24. Obama should get a correction if it's wrong.

It's not like we don't understand words being taken out of context. The part that I saw he did sound compelling in tone, but I didn't see the whole thing in its entirety, and if Obama was misquoted from his speech then he owes it to Dems to get it clarified.

The reason I think he said something like it, or maybe even the exact quote behind the scenes, is because he's made statements in the past where he takes a stand against the Dem PARTY in general for some view where he ACCEPTS the GOP spin against the party. I just don't think that's a correct position to take and its certainly not HELPFUL.

It's like, Yeah, yeah, I know the Dem PARTY isn't so hot, but, I'm different.

[blm]

7. Who were the 13 Dem votes on Kerry-Feingold again?

.

[Mass]

9. Here

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=109&session=2&vote=00181

[fedupinBushcountry]

10. Here they are

Akaka (D-HI)
Boxer (D-CA)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feingold (D-WI)
Harkin (D-IA)
Inouye (D-HI)
Jeffords (I-VT)
Kennedy (D-MA)
Kerry (D-MA)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Leahy (D-VT)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Wyden (D-OR)

[TayTay]

12. That is still the script for Democrats in DC

There is still a lot or pressure not to rock the boat and that the way to get voters' interest is to pretend not to be a Democrat in a lot of ways.

I think it takes a while to realize that the consultants who advocate that are wrong and are just practicing self-hatred. We don't need to stand up to Democrats, we need to stand up to Republicans. This is why I am so irked at Sen. Reid; he has no follow-through. He will make noise aobut doing some great thing that will really tick the Repubs off and advance something Democratic and then, nothing. I am still angry at him for the Alito filibuster and for allowing the real debate on the Iraq War withdrawal to occur in the evening when, presumably, no one at home was watching and it wouldn't show the Democrats as actually standing for anything. I think Sen. Obama is taking advice from these people, which is too bad. However, he is a very bright and articulate man, ther eis yet hope that he will figure this out and make his own stand on this. (I think Harry Reid is a bad influence on him. I don't trust Harry Reid.)

[Mass]

14. dailykos.com has a great comment on the speech,

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/9/17/21151/0231

[Democrafty]

15. That is good, thanks! n/t

[ProSense]

16. That's exactly why the crowd

groaned.

Consider the venue, please. You're at an event ripe for big ideas, big dreams and high hopes, with natural supporters of your cause. What's with telling (who exactly?) in vague, general terms what we "should" be doing. You're at Tom Harkin's gig, for pete's sake. Don't scold the party. Buck up the troops. I'm a devoted political junkie of the highest order, and my eyes just ... glazed

Not exactly the venue for going soft on Bush!

[karynnj]

17. The comments go way overboard though

many designate Obama as the new Lieberman.

[globalvillage]

18. I will say that he's a good speaker.

Despite some of the things he actually says.
He got some well deserved mileage out of the convention speech.
That's about as far as I'm willing to go. He's got a lot to prove as a senator before he considers a run for pres.

[sandnsea]

20. We need a tougher stance implies we aren't tough

The exact wrong thing to say, even if you think it's true. I also didn't like his "won't demonize Republicans" thing. If Democrats don't realize Republican policy is bad for the country by now, I don't know when they will.

Somebody put up a Harkin quote today - Republican trickle down - When a sparrow is hungry, the Republican solution is to feed oats to a horse.

I hope Obama figures out that that's the truth and not demonization.

[Mass]

23. More of the same, in his book.

http://upper-left.blogspot.com/ (Thanks to Shaun).

"We Democrats are just, well, confused," Obama writes. He goes on. "Mainly, though, the Democratic Party has become the party of reaction. In reaction to a war that is ill-conceived, we appear suspicious of all military action.

"In reaction to those who proclaim the market can cure all ills, we resist efforts to use market principles to tackle pressing problems. In reaction to religious overreach, we equate tolerance with secularism, and forfeit the moral language that would help infuse our policies with a larger meaning."

Actually, it is worse than I imagined.