I need more..

[JaJae]

As the title says, I've narrowed down my presidential pick to Obama some time ago. With Biden and Richardson gone, I felt Obama was a no-brainer for the best pick in the Democratic party. I wasn't too happy with the Republicans, I didn't mind Paul all that much. In fact, I supported him for quite some time. The way he reacted to the newsletters made me question his leadership. He's also a bit looney on quite a few major issues that I felt would unite Congress to work against him. I don't think America is ready for a Ron Paul, as is witnessed by his dismal election turnout.

So now it appears our choices are down to Hillary, McCain and Obama. Hillary I can rule out for a lot of reasons. Every day she gives me another reason why I would never want her in the White House. This is the latest...
watching the Clinton campaign fall apart is amusing

McCain I have never been much a fan of and have no intentions of voting for him as long as there is a better option.

So I'm left with Obama. Partly because he's a decent candidate and partly because my other options suck. I mean no offense to anyone supporting the other candidates. I just think they have more negative qualities than positive ones and therefore I wouldn't be comfortable voting for either of them.

But recently I've been getting grumpier in regards to Obama and his campaign. The straw that broke the camel's back was something his wife said this past week regarding this being the first time she's ever been truly proud of her country. Now I assume she misspoke and was just exaggerating after getting caught up in the moment. But I don't think Hillary Clinton or McCain would every say such a thing. And I recognize Michelle isn't running for president, but she is a public part of Obama's campaign. Recently on Hardball the Clintons were accused of "pimping out" Chelsie Clinton when they arranged a lunch for her and a college-aged super delegate. Chelsie I'm sure was doing her mother a favor and I'm sure was glad to help out the campaign in any way she could. She did so under the media radar and thus far has done an amazing job avoiding the media considering how much they've probably been seeking her out. She's not a child anymore and she's old enough to be blasted by the media if she did anything wrong. But thus far she has handled herself in a completely proper manner.

Michelle Obama on the other hand has always bugged me a little bit. I don't know what it is about her, but the way she speaks in public has always struck me as odd and too aggressive when there was no reason to be. Her comments made me think about Obama and the message of change in his campaign. And the more I think about it the more I think Obama has a cynical view of America. He doesn't come right out and say it, but with all his change rhetoric he seems to harp on what he feels is wrong with America far more than most politicians. It's as if his campaign message is a pessimistic view of America and a promise to fix all the ills. Obviously he's making grandiose promises and he can't possibly fix them all. But his message is clear and true, and it is one that is respectable and should be admired. The only thing I can say is "I need more..." I need more from Obama and his campaign. I need more reassurances in his leadership abilities and less rhetoric. I don't foresee that happening until he goes head to head against McCain. And I'll support him until then, but I'm wary of his message.

If we look at microcosms of people who tried similar campaigns as Obama I find failures in their results. Dinkin's mayorship of NYC was horrendous (Rudy had to clean up his mess), Nagin in New Orleans, etc...

Having a good message is one thing. But Obama needs to show us more...

[David Octavius]

Its not the message I am concerned about, its the pettiness of politics that is more concerned with seeing the other party look bad, than working together for what's best for our country.

Hillary's Presidency would fail for just such a reason, and the fact that she wants to fight the republicans instead of work with them. At least Obama isn't as divisive and could actually try to work with the other party. McCain Unfortunately has shown he will defer to his party, he's not the maverick he used to be. It seems the republicans, more so than the democrats, are looking for their candidate to be a puppet of the ideology rather than an independent thinker.

[Thorgrim]

After all your talk about how Obama was such a better candidate, and how you'd pick him over the GOP field...

Here comes the general election...some people might have to vote Democratic! But wait, a lot of people caught up in Obama-mania hate Democrats...what to do?

Look desperately for some ridiculous excuse that one couldn't vote for him, and then everyone is in the clear

You are the perfect example of a large section of spring-time Obamacans, and why Obama is a bad gamble for a candidate, if NJ was an open primary you would have been pushing people out of the way to pull the lever for him in the primary, but now come the general election you're looking more and more for reasons to vote for McCain...which you will along with many others who leaned right but cheered for Obama...maybe because he looked cool on the cover of a magazine, maybe because they hate hillary...who knows

All those big Obama victories are full of voters like the above, who only told others they would be voting Obama, but when the time comes, they won't show

[kombayn]

Put this way, if Hillary is the nominee, I will not vote for her. If Obama is the nominee I will vote for him. Case-closed and my early candidate was a republican. StinkyCain is not my cup of tea, he's too old and really out of touch with the new generation.

[RMNIXON]

Originally Posted by kombayn

Put this way, if Hillary is the nominee, I will not vote for her. If Obama is the nominee I will vote for him. Case-closed and my early candidate was a republican. StinkyCain is not my cup of tea, he's too old and really out of touch with the new generation.

Well, you are going to get Hillary or whatever damage she can do to the party and Obama trying to get there. Very close to 100% certain at this point.

Good Luck!

[SoFlaJDM]

hey, i can't complain

[kombayn]

Originally Posted by RMNIXON

Well, you are going to get Hillary or whatever damage she can do to the party and Obama trying to get there. Very close to 100% certain at this point.

Good Luck!

Well the younger generation think black people are cool, so he'll win the election. Not so sure with Hillary because the GOP can just bombard her with the crap she's tried to pull over the years.

[hsmith]

Hillary has the big problem that if she wins, people are emotionally invested in Obama. The "young hip" crowd will have all the steam let out of their crowd. They aren't the blue dog democrat crowd, they are the "Obama-manics" who back him.

[Thorgrim]

Originally Posted by hsmith

Hillary has the big problem that if she wins, people are emotionally invested in Obama. The "young hip" crowd will have all the steam let out of their crowd. They aren't the blue dog democrat crowd, they are the "Obama-manics" who back him.

There are tons of young people in Ohio and Texas, if he couldn't get them out then...it looks like they are going to be a very piss pour group for the general election

If I wanted to keep a win to stave off 100 years of war and recession, and losing all our privacy rights

I would gladly lose a few Obama maniacs who weren't going to show to the polls anyway, and trade them for white and latino regular votes...who are going to vote no matter what...and have a significant chance of voting (R) if the the (D) listed is labeled as both "inexperienced liberal with speeches and no ideas" and "the black candidate"

Kerry needs only some 60,000 people to switch their votes, but he would have needed 120,000 new voters...one path is a lot easier than the other, and when you base it on a completely unreliable group...