Barack Obama!

Re: Barack 2008!

Julia said:

Agreed. There is rather more to being President than emotional rhetoric and charisma. I can't help getting the sense that many people, including some ASF members, are getting caught up in the almost hysteria of Obama, and thus losing their perspective and objectivity.

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I stand by everything I have said about him. He is a fraud. Even as an academic he was a fraud. Hopefully the campaign shows him to be the used car salesman he is.

If he does win the candidacy, I may be in a position I never thought I would be in - barracking for a Republican win! Me?

Re: Barack 2008!

speaking of running mates
I remember when Ge Bush (senior) chose Dan Quayle - now that HAD to have something to do with funding potential !!

either that or trying to win over the farmers who grew potatoooees

ps chops - must admit I don't feel I know the man yet (despite a couple of videos watched)
But I think I know Oprah Winfrey

(PS better do Doris the courtesy of watching more of those videos before I decide - but I kinda wish he had someone like Colin Powell as running mate - as if lol)

Re: Barack 2008!

Doris said:

After the debate in NH this morning it seems like John Edwards will be Barack's running mate!

Hillary is o u t... her claws have torn her chances.

People want a leader who is nurturing.


John McCain will be their adversary in November. But who will be his running mate?

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If Obama, should he win, will not have Edwards as his running mate.

It would be very, very unusual to have two contenders for nominee for President take the role of Pres. and VP candidates. The last time I can think of this happening was with Kennedy and Johnson. The main reason for this is that there are way to many quotes from the primaries of one bashing the other; bit hard selling a team to the entire population when you have previously slagged off at the other.

Honestly, I still think Guiliani will be a force to reckon with over the next month....watch this space/thread.

Re: Barack 2008!

Released 30 minutes ago:

NASHUA, N.H. ”” Amid frenetic last-minute campaigning, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds the onetime front-runners in New Hampshire lagging as Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain have surged to leads before Tuesday's primary.

Obama vaulted to a 13 percentage-point advantage over New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton three weeks after they were tied here. McCain gained a four-point edge over Mitt Romney, a former governor of neighboring Massachusetts who has campaigned almost as a favorite son.

The poll results spotlight the phenomenal rise of the 46-year-old senator from Illinois, who would be the first African-American nominated by a major party for president, and the 71-year-old senator from Arizona whose cash-short campaign was dismissed as all but over last summer.

"New Hampshire always has this insurgency bias," says Joe Keefe, a former state Democratic chairman who backs Obama. "The voters decide they're going to upset the conventional wisdom and, given the opportunity, they will change the page of history."

Huckabee ranks third in New Hampshire. Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani is tied with Texas Rep. Ron Paul for fourth.

In the poll, taken Friday through Sunday:

•McCain and Romney divide Republicans about evenly. McCain owes his lead to independents, who back him by 2-1 and can vote in either primary. In a USA TODAY poll in December, Romney had led McCain by seven points overall.

•Obama and Clinton divide Democrats evenly, but he leads by 2-1 among independents. Female voters split between them equally; he leads by 2-1 among men.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-01-06-poll-newhampshire_N.htm

Re: Barack 2008!

chops_a_must said:

I stand by everything I have said about him. He is a fraud. Even as an academic he was a fraud. Hopefully the campaign shows him to be the used car salesman he is.

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Hey Chops!
Your passion is fired. Great to see you are not prickled by the fence barbs!

However, mere innuendo mate...

One of my biggest challenges, as a high school teacher, is to develop students' skills in explaining and justifying how they reached a conclusion. e.g. Pluto is not a planet. OK... justify this!

Even in maths they must show the working out and not merely the correct answer or they will not past the test.

btw:
Innuendo: an indirect intimation about a person or thing, esp of a derogatory nature.

Re: Barack 2008!

Barack Obama on education

On No Child Left Behind law
Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., was not in office when Congress passed an education bill in 2001 that requires states to annually test students, known as the No Child Left Behind law. He has said it is a well-intentioned attempt to erase long-standing achievement gaps between white and minority students, but he believes the Bush administration ruined it through inflexible application. Obama wants more money for schools and to move away from traditional testing to judge schools.

On making college affordable
Obama has been pushing for an increase in the federal Pell grant awards that students can get to pay for college. That increase was part of a wide-ranging college funding bill that the Senate passed in September 2007. Obama was a co-sponsor of legislation that President Bush signed in September 2007 lowering fees and cutting interest rates for student loans by half, to 3.4%, and increasing Pell grant awards from $4,310 in 2007 to $5,400 by 2012.

Other education priorities
Obama says he wants to improve teacher quality and increase pay, especially for those teachers who also mentor students or boost achievement. Obama has said, however, that improvements in achievement shouldn’t be based “on some arbitrary test score.”
(THIS IS CURRENT THINKING IN AUSTRALIA!)

Barack Obama on abortion:

On Roe v. Wade
Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., has said a woman's right to decide how many children to have and when is one of the nation's most fundamental freedoms. Obama opposes a constitutional amendment or federal law banning abortion.

At a forum in July conducted by the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, Obama implied that he would appoint Supreme Court nominees who support Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision legalizing abortion.

"With one more vacancy on the court, we could be looking at a majority hostile to a woman's fundamental right to choose for the first time since Roe v. Wade, and that is what is at stake in this election," Obama said. "It is time for a different attitude in the White House. It is time for a different attitude in the Supreme Court."

In the U.S. Senate, Obama voted in 2005 to minimize cuts to Medicaid, a move that Planned Parenthood said would prevent cuts to services such as family planning.

In 2006, Obama voted against making it a federal crime for anyone other than a parent to accompany a minor across state lines to get an abortion. The bill did not become law.

The National Right to Life Committee, which opposes abortion rights, said Obama never voted with the group's interests in 2005 and 2006. Planned Parenthood, which supports abortion rights, said Obama voted 100% of the time with the group's interests in 2006.


Barack Obama on Iraq:

On going to war
Democrat Barack Obama was an Illinois state senator in 2002 when Congress voted to give President Bush the authority to use military force against Iraq. “I don’t oppose all wars. “What I am opposed to is a dumb war,” Obama said at the time. He predicted that even a successful war in Iraq would require “a U.S. occupation of undetermined length, at an undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences,” and “fan the flames of the Middle East.”

On Bush's troop increase
Obama, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was opposed to Bush’s plan in January 2007 to temporarily build up U.S. troop levels in Iraq to combat sectarian violence and help Iraqis achieve independence. In September 2007, Obama also criticized Bush’s proposal to withdraw those additional troops by summer 2008 but leave behind about 130,000 forces. “He is bound to the same failed course that we have seen for the last several years,” Obama said of Bush.

On moving forward
Obama proposed in September 2007 to remove all U.S. combat troops in Iraq by the end of 2008. He called for a “new approach” on achieving reconciliation among the Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds in Iraq. Obama’s plan also would escalate diplomatic efforts to engage Iraq’s neighbors and the United Nations to help stabilize Iraq, and provide more humanitarian aid to the war-torn country.

Barack Obama on immigration:

On border security
Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., said in 2006 that dealing with border security is “only one side of the equation.” He voted for final passage of a bill in September 2006 that called for 700 miles of fencing along the U.S.-Mexican border, after opposing a version in May of that year. The measure, signed into law by President Bush, was an alternative to a broader approach on border security and immigration that died from lack of consensus.

On immigration overhaul
Obama supported the 2007 comprehensive bill that would have established a “guest-worker” program, provided a path to citizenship for most of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the USA, emphasized worker skills for visas instead of family ties and beefed up border security. That measure never got an up-or-down vote, but Obama voted for a similar bill in 2006.

“For the millions here illegally but otherwise playing by the rules, we must encourage them to come out of hiding and get right with the law,” he said on his campaign website. That means, he said, paying a fine, learning English, not committing any crimes and then going “to the back of the line” to apply for citizenship.

Obama also has advocated that employers need to do more to check the legal status of their workers. His plan calls for a new employment eligibility verification system, according to his campaign website.

http://asp.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/issues.aspx?i=4&c=12

Re: Barack 2008!

chops_a_must said:

I stand by everything I have said about him. He is a fraud. Even as an academic he was a fraud. Hopefully the campaign shows him to be the used car salesman he is.

If he does win the candidacy, I may be in a position I never thought I would be in - barracking for a Republican win! Me?

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Onya mate!

Barracking is the waytogo!

... Baracking ?

Re: Barack 2008!

No child left behind .........

Which pollie hasn't come out with that one ?

Load of codswallop .

Re: Barack 2008!

Well, Bush is certainly past his use by date. A new leader with new ideas generally does good things for an economy.

Re: Barack 2008!

ithatheekret said:

No child left behind .........

Which pollie hasn't come out with that one ?

Load of codswallop .

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Well Bush did!
At least it attempted to redress inequity!

Note:

Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., was not in office when Congress passed an education bill in 2001 that requires states to annually test students, known as the No Child Left Behind law.

Obama criticized it too!

He has said it is a well-intentioned attempt to erase long-standing achievement gaps between white and minority students, but he believes the Bush administration ruined it through inflexible application. Obama wants more money for schools and to move away from traditional testing to judge schools.

Re: Barack 2008!

Americans have already had a black President...Bill Clinton (source: Meet the Press, Channel 7)

Obama would be more appealing to blacks if he could dunk! (source: David Letterman Show, Channel 10)

Re: Barack 2008!

Well Doris, the moment of truth is soon to arrive. Looks like your guy has the momentum and could well pull off an upset over the next few weeks.

Must say and dont want to wish him ill, but I would not like to be him when campaigning. I think it is only a matter of time before a crazy, particularly as he heads south, tries to put a bullet in him.

I think he would be under serious threat as he becomes a more likely nominee.

Re: Barack 2008!

Hillary Clinton imo has reduced her chances significantly by being almost tearful and clearly upset in a broadcast today.

Lays herself open to accusations of "an emotional woman", the last thing which is appropriate in a President.

Re: Barack 2008!

Julia said:

Hillary Clinton imo has reduced her chances significantly by being almost tearful and clearly upset in a broadcast today.

Lays herself open to accusations of "an emotional woman", the last thing which is appropriate in a President.

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Agreed. Perhaps a last ditch effort before the polls?

Who knows what spin doctors come up with these days!?

Re: Barack 2008!

Julia said:

Hillary Clinton imo has reduced her chances significantly by being almost tearful and clearly upset in a broadcast today.

Lays herself open to accusations of "an emotional woman", the last thing which is appropriate in a President.

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I felt so sorry for her! But then I watched her eyes and they were conniving. Devious. Was it a ploy for women's votes?
As if one might then vote for her as she was the under dog and they felt sorry for her??

I agree Julia!
How could she? Women are emotional. But a president has to keep it together... or at least be seen to.


I think NH is 9 (?) hours ahead of us... the day before... (California is 6 hrs ahead... the day before)

All towns with fewer than 100 residents were allowed to open their polls at midnight.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gig84Ukt0T-BpyFQGC6Ll5aLYUBg

Polls opened in the tiny resort village of Dixville Notch, New Hampshire at midnight (0500 GMT), and closed minutes later after all 17 of its registered voters had cast ballots, in keeping with an eccentric tradition.

Results written on a board showed Obama with seven votes; former senator with John Edwards with two; and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson one, on the Democratic side.

McCain was the Republican victor with four votes, while Romney took two and former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani, one.

There were no votes for Clinton or Iowa Republican victor Mike Huckabee, who has vaulted to pole position among Republicans nationally in the latest polls.

Re: Barack 2008!

chops_a_must said:

I stand by everything I have said about him. He is a fraud. Even as an academic he was a fraud. Hopefully the campaign shows him to be the used car salesman he is.

If he does win the candidacy, I may be in a position I never thought I would be in - barracking for a Republican win! Me?

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Haven't really followed him much, but I've got my doubts about him too. The hyperbole emanating from this chap is chunderous.

But a republican? Only Ron Paul will do. If McCain or Guiliani get up, I'm shifting to Pluto.

Re: Barack 2008!

Aussie2Aussie said:

Well Doris, the moment of truth is soon to arrive. Looks like your guy has the momentum and could well pull off an upset over the next few weeks.

Must say and dont want to wish him ill, but I would not like to be him when campaigning. I think it is only a matter of time before a crazy, particularly as he heads south, tries to put a bullet in him.

I think he would be under serious threat as he becomes a more likely nominee.

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Yes A2A... a real concern!

From latest Washington Post: (would make supporters more circumspect of people around them?!)

The Illinois senator's security now rivals that of President Bush, with a dozen Secret Service agents wearing dark suits and earpieces leading bomb-sniffing dogs through event venues, sweeping all equipment brought by journalists and flanking the candidate as he plunges into crowds of supporters.

"For many black supporters, there is a lot of anxiety that he will be killed, and it is on people's minds," said Melissa Harris-Lacewell, a Princeton University professor of political science and contemporary black culture.

"You can't make a prediction like this ”” like he has 'a 50 percent chance of getting shot.' But the greater his visibility and the greater his access to people, there is a danger," she said.

Another black presidential candidate, Jesse Jackson, drew Secret Service protection because of violent threats during his campaigns in the 1980s. And former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell ruled out a presidential run in part because his wife expressed fears he would be assassinated.

Mr. Obama, who reportedly resisted asking for Secret Service protection but personally requested a detail of agents after friends insisted, has been under federal watch since early last year. No one will say whether he has received an explicit death threat ”” his campaign said yesterday only that "we don't comment on security" ”” but officials have tracked racist chatter on white-supremacist Web sites.

The Internet is rife with theories that someone may try to assassinate the senator ”” typing into Google "assassinate Obama" brings up more than 2,000 hits. Anyone from Islamist terrorists to racist Americans to operatives of Halliburton and Blackwater are speculated about, but other, more nefarious Web sites are for real, according to reports from the Associated Press.

At his first morning event yesterday, at least a dozen plainclothes Secret Service agents, most with yellow pins on their lapels, stood guard in and around the Palace Theater, and, unlike other candidates touring the state, uniformed police were also on hand. The theater was emptied early so bomb-detecting dogs could sweep through, and journalists covering the event were corralled for inspection.

http://washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080107/NATION/415598644/1001

Re: Barack 2008!

Crocodile tears .

I remember this bloke called Bob , he could ball for the camera .......


he wasn't going to leave kids behind , no child in poverty , blah , blah , blah .

I know what the tears were about too .

Re: Barack 2008!

I'm sure she meant to pass this on to you 2020! ... and to you A2A
This came in 20 minutes ago (QLD is an hour behind you guys down south!)
________________________________________
From: Michelle Obama [mailto:info@barackobama.com]
Sent: Tuesday, 8 January 2008 11:19 PM
To: Doris *******
Subject: What it looks like in New Hampshire

Doris --

The lines have been out the door and around the block.

Undecided voters are coming out of our events decided.

I've been in New Hampshire a few days, and the crowds and energy have been incredible.

You can feel it in our campaign offices and at rallies all across the state -- this is something more than a typical political campaign.

Today is Primary Day, and our momentum has hit New Hampshire. Thousands of people are realizing that fundamental change is within reach. The improbable is now possible.

It's critical that we build a national campaign infrastructure in the next few weeks if we are going to compete.

My husband is a special leader. He has an amazing ability to bring people to the table and create real change.

But he is the first to admit that this is bigger than him.

Americans are ready for change and ready to work together to make it happen.

It's humbling and inspiring, but more than anything, it's an awakening for each one of us.

It's a wonderful thing to see what's happening here in New Hampshire.

But we are taking nothing for granted, working hard to get every last vote out today in the Granite State, and we have to keep the momentum going in Nevada, South Carolina, and the 22 states on Feb 5.

We can't let up for a minute.

Iowa was a good beginning. But the pace has intensified, the campaign has become more fluid, and our challenges have become even more complex.

It's going to take a commitment from each one of us to make this happen.

Thank you for all you have done for the campaign -- we will be thinking of you tonight in New Hampshire.

Michelle

P.S. -- Check out these photos from events around New Hampshire:





Paid for by Obama for America
This email was sent to: doris.*******@bigpond.com

Re: Barack 2008!

wayneL said:

Haven't really followed him much, but I've got my doubts about him too. The hyperbole emanating from this chap is chunderous.

But a republican? Only Ron Paul will do. If McCain or Guiliani get up, I'm shifting to Pluto.

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lol...

You'll be off the planets all together eh!

(I'm taking it that you're being facetious as Pluto is no longer considered a planet)

Desperate times in the US atm...
( don't we know it with $37 billion wiped from our bourse yesterday alone!)

Recession fears could be realized by November although their RB seems to be doing its utmost to avert it.

I have to admit that I don't know much about Barack's economic policies except for removing the high tax on big income earners that Bush increased. (and supporting college students with loans)

Less tax does mean though that they'll then risk making more money by investing more in expanding their businesses and thus increase employment!

Good start as working people are better able to pay their bills and generate more production...

(Hillary has been rightly stressing the need to rebuild the middle class)

I think his immigration policy is propitious.
If the 12 million illegals come out and pay their fine, seek and achieve residency status, they will earn the going rate instead of the meager cash-in-hands they get now. Then they can pay their medical bills (free for emergency cases e.g. maternity, by law) as well as more consumer goods and the money goes around in the cycle.

Except a lot of Americans will resent having to pay more for their illegal alien employees!