Barack Obama!

ABC World News reported that McCain continued to condemn Obama's opposition to the surge, saying, "If we had done what Senator Obama wanted done, it would have been chaos, genocide, increased Iranian influence, perhaps al Qaeda establishing bases again."

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On NBC's Meet the Press yesterday, Obama defended his stand on the surge, downplaying its impact and saying, "There's no doubt, and I've said this repeatedly, that our troops make a difference. ... But, for example, in Anbar Province, where we went to visit, the Sunni awakening took place before the surge started, and tribal leaders made a decision that, instead of fighting the Americans, we're going to work with the Americans against al Qaeda."

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Watching TV, I was amazed by the rock star reception Barack Obama received on Wednesday in Germany. All over Europe, it seems, Obama is the craze. The mood is no different on other continents.

Obama is becoming more of an idea, a concept, beyond the man himself.

In Africa, you and I are excited because America has clearly gone a step further in appreciating a person of colour beyond his presumed prowess in sports or music. Europeans are simply delighted because the Senator represents the antithesis of George W. Bush.

After the Dark Age of Bush, the world craves for the idealised America it thought it knew before. It is plain that the rapturous embrace of Obama outside America signifies this craving.

A craving for an America that, as in a marriage, was sensitive (or pretended to be, which is just as well) to the weaker partner rather than always being a bully.

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Doris' quote said:

Watching TV, I was amazed by the rock star reception Barack Obama received on Wednesday in Germany. All over Europe, it seems, Obama is the craze. The mood is no different on other continents.

Obama is becoming more of an idea, a concept, beyond the man himself.

In Africa, you and I are excited because America has clearly gone a step further in appreciating a person of colour beyond his presumed prowess in sports or music. Europeans are simply delighted because the Senator represents the antithesis of George W. Bush.

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ZzzzDad said:

A humorous, and basically spot on commentary on the Messiah from Gerard Baker:

by
Gerard Baker

And it came to pass, in the eighth year of the reign of the evil Bush the Younger (The Ignorant), when the whole land from the Arabian desert to the shores of the Great Lakes had been laid barren, that a Child appeared in the wilderness.

The Child was blessed in looks and intellect. Scion of a simple family, offspring of a miraculous union, grandson of a typical white person and an African peasant. And yea, as he grew, the Child walked in the path of righteousness, with only the occasional detour into the odd weed and a little blow.

(read the rest on the link below)

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/gerard_baker/article4392846.ece


I have a few Democrat friends who have totally surprised me that they are voting for McCain over Obama. These are staunch Democrats, but they don't think Obama is fit to be President with his extreme left wing values, connections (Rev. Wright, et al), and no credentials.

Many on this forum will be surprised when McCain wins fairly easily. Not quite a landslide, but a very healthy margin. This election is for President of the United States after all, not President of the World.

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ZzzzDad said:

If anyone believes that the Obama team is different, please read this entire article:

http://web.israelinsider.com/Articles/Politics/13021.htm

Paper, rapped for outing Obama note, claims campaign pre-approved leak

What initially seemed to be a journalistic scoop of dubious moral propriety now seems to be a case of an Israeli paper being played by the Barack Obama campaign. Maariv, the second most popular newspaper in Israel, was roundly criticized for publishing the note Obama left in the Kotel. But now a Maariv spokesperson says that publication of the note was pre-approved for international publication by the Obama campaign, leading to the conclusion that the "private" prayer was intentionally leaked for public consumption.

SNIP

[Update as to Maariv's statement as published in Haaretz on July 28]: "Obama's note was published in Maariv and other international publications following his authorization to make the content of the note public. Obama submitted a copy of the note to media outlets when he left his hotel in Jerusalem."]

If correct, It appears that Obama made Maariv and other media an instrument of his will. The media, of course, was a most willing tool


The entire article is quite revealing about how the Obama campaign tries to manipulate everyone.

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wayneL said:

Well firstly, this doesn't surprise me. He is a politician, not the messiah.

Secondly, I wouldn't be surprised that any politician pulls stunts like this... they all do

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ZzzzDad said:

If anyone believes that the Obama team is different, please read this entire article:

http://web.israelinsider.com/Articles/Politics/13021.htm

Paper, rapped for outing Obama note, claims campaign pre-approved leak

What initially seemed to be a journalistic scoop of dubious moral propriety now seems to be a case of an Israeli paper being played by the Barack Obama campaign. Maariv, the second most popular newspaper in Israel, was roundly criticized for publishing the note Obama left in the Kotel. But now a Maariv spokesperson says that publication of the note was pre-approved for international publication by the Obama campaign, leading to the conclusion that the "private" prayer was intentionally leaked for public consumption.

SNIP

[Update as to Maariv's statement as published in Haaretz on July 28]: "Obama's note was published in Maariv and other international publications following his authorization to make the content of the note public. Obama submitted a copy of the note to media outlets when he left his hotel in Jerusalem."]

If correct, It appears that Obama made Maariv and other media an instrument of his will. The media, of course, was a most willing tool

The entire article is quite revealing about how the Obama campaign tries to manipulate everyone.

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The rabbi overseeing the Western Wall, Shmuel Rabinowitz, sent a letter on Tuesday to US Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama, in which he expressed his sorrow over the removal of the note written by Obama from the wall and its subsequent publication in local media.

In addition, the Yeshiva student who removed Obama’s note from the Wall also apologized and asked for Obama’s forgiveness. He said the note had been returned to its place with Rabinowitz’s help.

In the letter, Rabinowitz wrote that as the Western Wall and Holy Sites Rabbi he deeply regrets the aberrant act.

He also said that many people visit the Western Wall; Jews and non-Jews alike and their honor and the honor of their prayers are top priority.

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ZzzzDad said:

Good ad, and resonates with American voters that are very wary of the European love affair with Obama.

Obama made a big mistake having a campaign rally, drawing 200,000 plus Germans. This is the first time in my memory that any candidate has had a campaign rally OUTSIDE of the U.S.

Will come back to haunt him.

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Doris said:

Well it wasn't a campaign rally except for the US voters to see he had clout with world leaders. (Silence McCain)

Do you think it will haunt him when the Europeans realize he was manipulating their egos - for the US to save some of the $10 billion a month on the war in Iraq... to get them to share more of the cost (including human) so he has the $$ to spend on the US economy?

I see his aim as fully focused on infrastructure and the economy to re-build the health and strength of the US.
World cooperation will enable this focus to be applied.

I noticed one of his goals is to reduce middle income tax... You should be relieved?

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"Barack Obama has played the race card, and he played it from the bottom of the deck."
"It's divisive, negative, shameful and wrong."

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Obama began his day Wednesday, charging: "Nobody really thinks that Bush or McCain have a real answer for the challenges we face, so what they're going to try to do is make you scared of me. You know, he's not patriotic enough. He's got a funny name. You know, he doesn't look like all those other presidents on those dollar bills, you know. He's risky."

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McCain defended the more aggressive strategy at a town hall meeting in Wisconsin, where a young woman asked him why he had launched an ad juxtaposing Obama with Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. "What we are talking about here is substance, and not style," he said. "Campaigns are tough, but I am proud of the campaign we have run, I'm proud of the issues we have raised."

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2020hindsight said:

lol
well Doris, I reckon we are gonna find out how good he is.
cos the bookies all reckon he's gonna win

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The crowd was an enthusiastic one, like so many of Obama's gatherings.
Its members were ready to see and cheer their leader.

But before listening to his usual stump speech, the crowd sang "Happy Birthday" to him.
On Monday Obama will turn 47.

But the happy crowd did not sing the song, "Happy Birthday, Senator Obama."

It was a small but revealing thing.
The very confident crowd sang the song, "Happy Birthday, Mr. President."

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The crowd was an enthusiastic one, like so many of Obama's gatherings.
Its members were ready to see and cheer their leader.

But before listening to his usual stump speech, the crowd sang "Happy Birthday" to him.
On Monday Obama will turn 47.

But the happy crowd did not sing the song, "Happy Birthday, Senator Obama."

It was a small but revealing thing.
The very confident crowd sang the song, "Happy Birthday, Mr. President."

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2020hindsight said:

lol
well Doris, I reckon we are gonna find out how good he is.
cos the bookies all reckon he's gonna win

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McCain has his sights squarely on Obama's opposition to offshore drilling, labeling him "Dr. No when it comes to energy production." The tactic is not surprising, because polls have shown that consumers ”” even in environmentally sensitive states like Florida ”” are desperate for politicians to do something about energy and favor offshore drilling by big margins.

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"I'm in favor of solving problems," Obama responded.

"What I don't want to do is say something because it sounds good politically."
Obama seeks to turn the issue on its head, arguing that McCain and Bush are practicing the old politics of simply promising people something that's symbolic without addressing the real problem.

Discounting drilling, he proposes energy rebates, a crackdown on oil speculators who manipulate the market and a renewed focus on energy alternatives.

"Instead of offering any real plan to lower gas prices, Sen. McCain touts his support for George Bush's plan for offshore oil drilling," Obama said. "But even the Bush administration acknowledges that offshore oil drilling will have little impact on prices.

It won't lower prices today. It won't lower prices during the next administration. In fact, we won't see a drop of oil from this drilling for almost 10 years."

Obama cited Exxon Mobil's record profits ”” the company on Thursday reported second-quarter earnings of $11.68 billion, the biggest ever by a U.S. corporation ”” while contending that the GOP candidate's plan for offshore drilling won't help consumers and "reads like an oil-company wish list."

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Even Big Oil Admits Off-Shore Drilling Would Yield No Results For Up To 10 Years.
“Opening America’s coastal waters to oil drilling, as John McCain urged in an address Tuesday, is unlikely to provide Americans with more oil for at least seven to 10 years. That’s the estimate from the American Petroleum Institute, the oil industry trade group.”

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McCain’s Tax Plan Gives Top Five Oil Companies $3.8 Billion A Year In Tax Breaks. According to a study conducted by the Center for American Progress, “The McCain plan would deliver approximately $170 billion a year in tax cuts to corporations, including some corporations that are very large and profitable. Just one of the proposals -cutting the corporate rate from 35 percent to 25 percent-would cut taxes for five largest U.S. oil companies by $3.8 billion a year.” [Center for American Progress, 3/27/08]

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Gore: “When You’re In A Hole, Stop Digging!”

Former Vice President Al Gore said, “There used to be an old-timey remedy for hangovers called ‘the hair of the dog that bit you.’ They’d recommend going in and just having another drink in the morning if you had a hangover.

Well, that’s sort of what this reminds me of.

‘Oh, we have a fossil fuel crisis? Well, let’s just go back for more.’

When you’re in a hole, stop digging!”

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Doris said:

Not surprisingly, Al Gore supports Obama's solutions:

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