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 Bill Clinton and the race card

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Posted on 01-24-08 1:06 PM     Reply [Subscribe]
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Its very interesting to see Bill Clinton, often touted as the "first black president", so cleverly playing what many consider the race card.

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http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2004141629_apclintonrace23.html

ON DEADLINE: Clinton Makes Race an Issue

Associated Press Writer

Bill Clinton says race shouldn't be an issue in the Democratic presidential campaign. Well, then perhaps he should stop talking about it.

The caustic politics of race and gender took center stage in the Democratic race Wednesday as a combative Clinton campaigned on behalf of his wife, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, and lashed out at the rival Barack Obama campaign and the media for focusing on race.

But it was Clinton himself who dished on the topic when he told an audience in Charleston that he was proud of the Democratic Party for having a woman and a black candidate. In response to a question from a crowd member who asked about "race-baiting" by the media, Clinton said he understands why Obama is drawing support among blacks, who are expected to comprise at least half the primary turnout.

"As far as I can tell, neither Senator Obama nor Hillary have lost votes because of their race or gender. They are getting votes, to be sure, because of their race or gender _ that's why people tell me Hillary doesn't have a chance of winning here," the former president said. "But that's understandable because people are proud when someone who they identify with emerges for the first time."

One of the best political strategists of his generation, Clinton may be hoping to lower expectations for Saturday's primary. He may have his sights on Feb. 5, when voters in 22 states take part in a national primary. It would likely work to Hillary Clinton's advantage to have the electorate polarized by race, given that most Feb. 5 voters will be white and Hispanic; she won the Hispanic vote overwhelmingly in last week's Nevada caucus.

Strategists working for the New York senator deny any intentional effort by Bill Clinton, his wife or even surrogates like Bob Johnson, who referred to Obama's admitted drug use, to stir the racial debate. But they say they believe the fallout has had the effect of branding Obama as "the black candidate," something he has worked to avoid.

One Clinton supporter openly played the race card.

After fielding several questions from a crowd of about 200 in Kingstree, Bill Clinton called on a black man standing off to the side of the small stage. The man identified himself as a pastor and told Clinton that "black America is voting for Obama because he's black."

The man also said Democrats are in a "dangerous position" because if Obama wins the nomination, voters will put a Republican in the White House.

"They're not ready to for a black president," the man said.

Several black audience members nodded their heads. Several said in unison, "That's right!"

Clinton responded, "First of all, as an American, I have to tell you I hope you're not right."


He then said that despite the "mean things" said about him "in the Obama camp this week," he would support the Illinois senator in November should his wife lose the nomination fight.

"If he wins the nomination, I will do what I can to help him win the election," Clinton said.

"The reason I think Hillary is more electable is not race, it's this: If there is a security crisis somewhere between now and the election, the fact that Hillary" has served on the Senate Armed Services Committee and has visited more than 80 nations "will make it much harder for them to spook people by saying she can't handle a national security crisis," Clinton said.

"If they (conduct) one of their standard negative campaigns," he added, "I think it'll be easier for her to withstand it because she has so much scar tissue."

Still, he said twice in his remarks that all three Democratic candidates _ Clinton, Obama and former Sen. John Edwards _ could beat any Republican nominee in the current political climate.

The pastor who raised the specter of racism later refused to identify himself to an Associated Press reporter. He was escorted by a security guard who shooed away strangers.

In Charleston, Clinton scolded reporters for asking about an Obama supporter's accusation that the Clinton campaign has used race as a wedge issue like past GOP campaigns.

"This is almost like once you accuse someone of racism and bigotry the facts become irrelevant," a red-faced Clinton said. "Not one single solitary citizen asked about any of this, and they never do."

He said the Obama campaign is encouraging reporters to write about race.

"Shame on you!" he told a reporter.

Shame on anybody who plays the race card.

___

Associated Press writer Mike Baker contributed to this column.


 
Posted on 01-24-08 1:47 PM     Reply [Subscribe]
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Clintons are going to do what ever it takes to get her nominated. Here is an excellent article by Eugene Robinson in Washington Post. 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/21/AR2008012101864.html?nav=hcmodule

-----------

 What's Gotten Into Bill?

Tuesday, January 22, 2008; Page A19

Six months ago, Bill Clinton seemed to be settling comfortably into roles befitting a silver-maned former president: statesman, philanthropist, philosopher-king. Now he has put all that high-mindedness on hold -- maybe it was never such a great fit, after all -- to co-star in his wife Hillary's campaign as a coldblooded political hit man.

No, scratch the "coldblooded" part. At times, in his attempt to cut Barack Obama down to size, Bill Clinton has been red-faced with anger; his rhetoric about voter suppression and a great big "fairy tale" has been way over the top. This doesn't look and sound like mere politics. It seems awfully personal.

Obama's candidacy not only threatens to obliterate the dream of a Clinton Restoration. It also fundamentally calls into question Bill Clinton's legacy by making it seem . . . not really such a big deal.

That, I believe, is the unforgivable insult. The Clintons picked up on this slight well before Obama made it explicit with his observation that Ronald Reagan had "changed the trajectory of America in a way that Richard Nixon did not and in a way that Bill Clinton did not."

Let's take a moment to consider that remark. Whether it was advisable for Obama to play the role of presidential historian in the midst of a no-holds-barred contest for the Democratic nomination, it's hard to argue with what he said. I think Bill Clinton was a good president, at times very good. And I wouldn't have voted for Reagan if you'd held a gun to my head. But even I have to recognize that Reagan -- like Margaret Thatcher in Britain and Mikhail Gorbachev in the Soviet Union -- was a transformational figure, for better or worse.

Bill Clinton's brilliance was in the way he surveyed the post-Reagan landscape and figured out how to redefine and reposition the Democratic Party so that it became viable again. All the Democratic candidates who are running this year, including Obama, owe him their gratitude.

But Obama has set his sights higher, and implicit in his campaign is a promise, or a threat, to eclipse Clinton's accomplishments. Obama doesn't just want to piece together a 50-plus-1 coalition; he wants to forge a new post-partisan consensus that includes "Obama Republicans" -- the equivalent of the Gipper's "Reagan Democrats." You can call that overly ambitious or even naive, but you can't call it timid. Or deferential.

Both Clintons have trouble hiding their annoyance at Obama's impertinence. Bill, especially, gives the impression that Obama has gotten under his skin. His frequent allegations of media bias in Obama's favor recall the everybody-against-us feeling of the impeachment drama, when the meaning of the word "is" had to be carefully parsed and the Clinton White House was under siege.

Obama hit back in an interview that aired Monday on "Good Morning America," saying the former president "has taken his advocacy on behalf of his wife to a level that I think is pretty troubling" and promising to "directly confront Bill Clinton when he's making statements that are not factually accurate."

For Obama, it's clearly an added burden to have to fight two Clintons instead of one. But at the same time, there may be benefits in having Bill Clinton take such a high-profile role in his wife's campaign that the missteps and disappointments of the Clinton years are inevitably recalled along with the successes. Whatever the net impact, there appears to be no plan for Bill Clinton to tone it down -- not with the nomination still in doubt. The Clintons don't much like losing.

So forget about the Bill Clinton we've known for the past eight years -- the one who finds friendship and common ground with fellow former president George H.W. Bush (a Republican, last I heard), who dedicates most of his time and energy to the William J. Clinton Foundation and the Clinton Global Initiative, who speaks eloquently about global citizenship, environmental stewardship and economic empowerment. Forget about the statesman who uses appropriately measured language when talking about transient political events, focusing instead on the broad sweep of human history. Forget about the apostle of brotherhood and understanding whose most recent book is titled, simply, "Giving." That Bill Clinton has left the building.

There's a battle to be fought against an upstart challenger who has the audacity to suggest that maybe the Clinton presidency, successful as it was in many ways, didn't change the world -- and that he, given the office, could do better. Some things, I guess, just can't be allowed. Bill Clinton obviously has decided that history can wait.


 
Posted on 01-24-08 2:06 PM     Reply [Subscribe]
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Lali Guras -

Yeah, a risky game as more and more people might find it hard to vote for the Clintons - especially if the Republicans nominate someone with cross-over appeal like McCain

Reminds me of this video (may need to replace Guiliani at the end with eventual the republican nominee)



 
Posted on 01-24-08 2:07 PM     Reply [Subscribe]
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I don’t understand why it is made such a big deal about Bill Clinton saying “fairy tale” stuff about Obama.  The more this stuff goes around the more it looks like Obama is nothing but a “Cry Baby”.  He was on all morning channel yesterday complaining about Bill Clinton.  Well he is running to be the President of US and this will be nothing compare to what he will get from Republicans IF he gets the nomination.  Remember Swift Boat against Kerry on 2004.  He looked pretty strong and matured after the Iowa victory but these days he just looks like another pathetic politician, who just criticizes their rival with out any original plan.  And all this nasty fight between Hillary and Obama, well its him who started first on last Saturday CNN debate by saying Hillary was on Wal-Mart board.  He may be a nice guy but with his current attitude he lacks the toughness to be US president. 


 
Posted on 01-24-08 3:35 PM     Reply [Subscribe]
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I agree it is not as big a deal as some in the media make it out to be because this is politics as usual. You throw whatever you have in your arsenal at your opponent. Some of Obama's supporters are whining no doubt but others are enjoying it because this is exposing the viscous side of the Clintons that just might work well to Obama's advantage .

Regardless of who wins the nominations the Democratic party, going by present trends, might come out a much more divided party than anytime in recent memory and this could damage the party's prospects in the general elections.

I say Obama should use his surrogates to throw mud right back at Clinton - but the he's running a 'different kind of campaign' and as a result he might have become a victim of his own rhetoric.


 
Posted on 01-24-08 3:38 PM     Reply [Subscribe]
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Ricky Ray Rector

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Ricky Ray Rector (January 12, 1950 – January 24, 1992), was executed for the 1981 murder of police officer Robert Martin in Conway, Arkansas.

On March 21, 1981, Rector and some friends drove to a dance hall at Tommy’s Old-Fashioned Home-Style Restaurant in Conway. When one of Rector’s friends was refused entry after being unable to pay the three dollar cover charge, Rector became incensed and pulled a .38 pistol from his waist band. He fired several shots, wounding two and killing a third man. The third man, Arthur Criswell, died almost instantaneously after being struck in the throat and forehead. Rector left the scene of the murder in a friend’s car and wandered the city for three days, alternately staying in the woods or with relatives. On March 24, Rector’s sister convinced him to turn himself in. Rector agreed to surrender only to Officer Robert Martin, who he had known since he was a child.

Officer Martin arrived at Rector’s mother’s home shortly after three p.m. and began chatting with Rector’s mother and sister. Shortly thereafter, Rector arrived and greeted Officer Martin. As Officer Martin turned away to continue his conversation with Mrs. Rector, Rickey pulled his pistol from behind his back and fired two shots into Officer Martin, striking him in the jaw and neck. Rector then turned and walked out of the house. Once he had walked past his mother’s backyard, Rector put his gun to his own temple and fired. Rector was quickly discovered by other police officers and was rushed to the local hospital. The shot had destroyed Rector’s frontal lobe, resulting in what was essentially a self-lobotomy.

Rector survived the surgery and was put on trial for the murders of Criswell and Martin. His defense attorneys argued that Rector was not competent to stand trial, but after hearing conflicting testimony from several experts who had evaluated Rector, Judge George F. Hartje ruled that Rector was competent to stand trial. Rector was convicted on both counts and sentenced to death.

Rector was subject to a unique overlap of controversies in 1992 during his execution in Arkansas. A question of the morality of killing someone who was functionally retarded. An oft-cited example of his mental insufficiency is his decision to save the dessert of his last meal for after his execution.[1] In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court banned the execution of people with mental retardation in Atkins v. Virginia, ruling that the practice constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. Rector was African-American, adding to racial questions relating to the death penalty.

By 1992, Bill Clinton was insisting that Democrats "should no longer feel guilty about protecting the innocent" and took a position strongly supporting capital punishment. To make his point, he flew home to Arkansas mid-campaign to affirm that the execution would continue as scheduled. Some considered it a turning point in that race, hardening a soft public image.[citation needed] Others tend to cite the execution as an example of what they perceive to be Clinton's opportunism, directly influenced by Michael Dukakis and his response to CNN's Bernard Shaw when asked during a campaign debate on October 13, 1988 if he would be supportive of the death penalty were his wife to be raped and murdered.

Rector was executed by lethal injection. It took medical staff, with Rector’s help, more than fifty minutes to find a suitable vein. The curtain remained closed between Rector and the witnesses, but some reported they could hear Rector moaning. The administrator of the State Department of Corrections Medical Program said “the moans did come as a team of two medical people that had grown to five worked on both sides of his body to find a vein. That may have contributed to his occasional outbursts.” The state later attributed the difficulty in finding a suitable vein to Rector’s heavy weight and to his use of an antipsychotic medication.

Rector was the third person executed by the state of Arkansas since Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 (1972), after new capital punishment laws were passed in Arkansas and that came into force on March 23, 1973.

Bill Clinton's critics from the anti-capital punishment left have seen the case of Rector as an unpleasant example of what they view as Clinton's cynical careerism. The writer Christopher Hitchens, in particular, devotes much of a chapter of his polemical attack on Clinton, No One Left to Lie To to what he regards as the immorality of the then Democratic candidate's decision to condone, and take political advantage of, Rector's execution.[2]


 
Posted on 01-25-08 4:54 PM     Reply [Subscribe]
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Lexington

Off the leash

Jan 24th 2008
From The Economist print edition

Democratic politics is all about Bill—again




THE Democrats are in the midst of making an historic choice between nominating their first female presidential candidate or their first black presidential candidate. And who is everybody talking about? A certain 61-year-old white male with a habit of waffling on about the old days, falling asleep in public and turning puce when crossed.

For most ex-presidents retirement is a golden time. They top up their personal fortunes, polish their reputations, perform good works and indulge in their hobbies (skydiving, in the case of George Bush senior). Richard Nixon turned himself into a foreign-policy sage. Jimmy Carter builds houses for the poor. Ronald Reagan wrote movingly about Alzheimer's before the disease silenced him.

For years Bill Clinton trod the same path. The Clinton Global Initiative is widely regarded as a model of its kind. Mr Clinton teamed up with Mr Bush senior to raise money for the victims of the Asian tsunami and Hurricane Katrina. The mere mention of his name was enough to put the devotees of Davos and other such gatherings into a swoon.

But over the past few months Mr Clinton has downgraded himself from global statesman to political hatchet-man. No former president has inserted himself so wholeheartedly into a presidential race. (Mr Bush senior stayed in the background of his son's campaign, and declined to get stuck in even after John McCain won in New Hampshire.) Mr Clinton has not only dismissed Barack Obama as a roll of the dice and a purveyor of fairy tales. He has also ripped into awkward reporters and wandered into the Nevada caucuses to canvass for his wife. He is spending more time campaigning in South Carolina than the candidate herself. Mr Clinton seems intent on playing Spiro Agnew to his wife's Nixon, but with one important difference: Agnew went after the other side.

Mr Clinton's behaviour has caused consternation in the upper ranks of his party. Jonathan Alter reports in Newsweek that two leading party figures who are neutral in the race, Ted Kennedy and Rahm Emanuel, have told Mr Clinton to change his tone. Several black leaders have publicly upbraided him.

Some of Mrs Clinton's confidants are also worried that their attack-dog has a touch of the mange. Mr Clinton's stump speeches tend to narcissism—particularly when he is reflecting on his glory years in the White House. He claims that he never supported the Iraq war, a statement that does not stand up to a couple of minutes' research on the internet. He fell asleep during a service in honour of Martin Luther King at a church in Harlem (“Bill has a dream”, quipped the New York Post).

Is Mr Clinton damaging his wife's presidential chances as well as his own reputation? This seems unlikely in the short-term battle against Mr Obama. The former president is armed with the biggest megaphone in the business. This could prove particularly important in the battle for mega-states such as California and New York, where advertising is prohibitively expensive and free press is manna from heaven. The Clintons' double-barrelled attack has put Mr Obama on the defensive—not a position that brings out the best in him. It has also succeeded in its chief aim: defining him as a black candidate, and an inexperienced one at that.

But the longer-term effect could be more harmful. The more Mrs Clinton relies on her husband, the more she undermines the most compelling arguments for her candidacy. Take the notion that she is a feminist pioneer. Mr Clinton's omnipresence not only reminds us that his wife made her political career by attaching herself to his coat-tails. Only a spouse could have survived the debacle of “Hillarycare”. It also reminds voters that her first instinct when the going gets tough is to turn to her husband.

Or take her claim that she stands for “smart change” or “real change” or whatever the latest slogan is. This was always going to be a difficult pose for Mrs Clinton to maintain. But her hip-and-thigh relationship with her husband underlines her two biggest weaknesses—her scandal-ridden past in the White House (remember Marc Rich? Or the free-loading Rodham brothers?) and the dynastification of American politics. When he retired from the presidency, Mr Clinton left the customary letter to his successor alongside the letter Mr Bush senior had left for him eight years before. Does the world's greatest democracy really want to give Mr Bush a chance to make a similar gesture?

Another rolling disaster?

The biggest damage is to Mrs Clinton's claim that she will be an effective chief executive. Mr Clinton's frenetic role in the campaign surely prefigures the role he will play in the White House, advising here, meddling there, and using the access to top-secret information that his position as an ex-president affords him to second-guess the most sensitive decisions. Who will hold Mr Clinton accountable for his actions? How will the White House function with an ex-president and a vice-president vying for influence? (One insider once termed the “three-headed” relationship between the Clintons and Al Gore a “rolling disaster”.) The Clintonians like to describe their bosses as complementary figures who act as “force multipliers”. But in the 1990s what actually got multiplied was confusion.

All this will be material for the Republican attack machine. By most reckonings the Republicans should be doomed. But the Clintons' tactics are alienating blacks and young people. The Clintons are in the process of doing the impossible: making the 2008 election a referendum on them, rather than on the Republicans. And the Republicans are inching towards nominating their one candidate, Mr McCain, who has broad popular appeal. If what ought to be a stroll in the park in November becomes a real fight, then the Democrats will know who to blame.


Source:


Last edited: 25-Jan-08 04:56 PM

 
Posted on 01-25-08 6:06 PM     Reply [Subscribe]
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hi there captain da killer :P :D,

the clintons are trying just a tad bit too hard to win favor from the obama and neutral supporters. not just the race card, they've, time and again, played the age/experience card, gender card or the glamor card (with the cleavage show and all haha), emotional card (when she literally cried in one of the the press conferences--don't remember the venue) and now the race card. and i agree with johnny there. they're all parts of the bloody game that politics is. obama should come up tougher against all these, what to me are, cheap acts from the clintons. all of 'em, including obama, could have done better.

the question is where would  all the black women votes swing in favor of with/after this? not that only they're offended by racial discriminations but they were already divided between clinton and obama and my guess would be, if obama can keep his cool, it will only prove more beneficial for him in the long run. i think he is a touch nervous after the loss in Nevada and NH caucuses.

oh well, that said, dirty politics everywhere innit?


Last edited: 25-Jan-08 06:24 PM

 
Posted on 01-25-08 6:39 PM     Reply [Subscribe]
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Yo Loote da heart breaker!

Agree. Obama needs to do more of what he is does in the ad below. I can't wait for the SC primary to be over. The Clintons will kick his butt if he continues to play their game. Bill changed the tone and nature of the game and set the agenda for the last one week - now Obama needs to do the same if he wants to win this thing.






 
Posted on 01-26-08 6:29 PM     Reply [Subscribe]
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Woooops, looks like the race cards didn't quite work in South Carolina.

Now onto Super Tuesday!




 
Posted on 01-26-08 9:24 PM     Reply [Subscribe]
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too much msnbc is not good for health,,,,:) and lol now even looteekukur is a political analyst ;) good bless america


 
Posted on 01-26-08 10:14 PM     Reply [Subscribe]
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He he Mansion, true, MSNBC has  been almost as hard as 'Fox Noise' on slick Willy. It was fascinating to see Buchanan, of all people, coming to the Clinton's defense.


Here's the victory speech (in case anyone wasn't watching):

Good nite.



 
Posted on 01-26-08 10:31 PM     Reply [Subscribe]
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Buchanan, always gets me...but i dont think he was defending the clintons, actually i dont think anyone in right mind wud defend the clintons unless they'r on clintons payroll.....i think pat was more being sarcastic and actually critising clintons...this whole theory of white backlash amazes me, i dont see it happenning,,,,,,,,,,,,,,and to be honest sometimes these so called pundits are way over thier head....damit learn something from that stupid NH poll....;)

am a republican so go mccain ;)

 


 
Posted on 01-26-08 10:50 PM     Reply [Subscribe]
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I have respect for McCain (and Giuliani and Paul) although I dont agree with them on many things. I lived in Mass when Romney was Governor and, my god, his flip flopping makes Kerry look like a kid. I respected him much more as a governor than I now do as a presidential candidate.

I think the nature of Tsunami Tuesday is such that it will turn all punditry on its head - never before have so many diverse states held their primary at the same time from  what I heard  - and with only ten days to go, I guess we will have to take what the pundits say with lots of salt and spice.

Good luck with McCain :)

 
Posted on 01-26-08 11:51 PM     Reply [Subscribe]
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ya, romney...he has had several diff views depending on whats he running for, when he was running for gov, he had a diff view on health care, immigration, war...and now its diff,,but again thats the part of being a politician.

but ya somehow these pundits really freak me out,,,,,u really do have to ask urself twice if its really an analogy or just their own interpretation of the polls...but anyways....its a great day for US...definetly something that will go down in history as something that reshaped US,,,a female candidate,,,a balck candidate,,,when US has never had a president who wasnt male, christian and white..

the thing with demo.. is , they end up killing themself and their base...but with the numbers of demo..showing for primary...i mean even today in sc it was 200k more thann in 04....they might just get lucky....

al am waiting for is hilary to get nominated ( not that i support her ) and john and lets see them make history.

obama..hes great..honestly he makes me wonder if we could ahve a black democratic version of regan...but he's lost a lotta momentum..ya he won by a large margin but for gods sake , it was SC....

 

 

 

 

 


 
Posted on 01-27-08 8:35 AM     Reply [Subscribe]
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Mansion, true, this was South Carolina and he won because of the black vote. He was trailing Hillary by some twenty points amongst all demographics up until a few weeks ago in SC. Check out this interesting analysis about the demographics of the vote. That is not to say he cannot win non-blacks. Iowa, New Hampshire(where the delta was 2%) and Nevada have shown he can. What he has stacked against him is time. With eight days left now and 22 states across several media markets and timezones, time might be his biggest enemy.

As for the Democracts loosing, yeah, they have produced disastrous candidates like Kerry and Gore. And Massachusetts, my former home state, has a history of producing embarrassing candidates (take note Romney supporters .. he he). I think however that the current crop of candidates are pretty formidable - at least they appear to be so up till now. Same thing on the Republican side if the nominee is McCain or Guiliani.

It's going to be a good match in November regardless of the nominees.


Last edited: 27-Jan-08 08:42 AM

 
Posted on 01-27-08 8:40 AM     Reply [Subscribe]
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Article by Caroline Kennedy, daughter of John F Kennedy, endorsing Barrack

######################

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/opinion/27kennedy.html?_r=1&hpq&oref=slogin

Op-Ed Contributor

A President Like My Father


Published: January 27, 2008

OVER the years, I’ve been deeply moved by the people who’ve told me they wished they could feel inspired and hopeful about America the way people did when my father was president. This sense is even more profound today. That is why I am supporting a presidential candidate in the Democratic primaries, Barack Obama.


My reasons are patriotic, political and personal, and the three are intertwined. All my life, people have told me that my father changed their lives, that they got involved in public service or politics because he asked them to. And the generation he inspired has passed that spirit on to its children. I meet young people who were born long after John F. Kennedy was president, yet who ask me how to live out his ideals.

Sometimes it takes a while to recognize that someone has a special ability to get us to believe in ourselves, to tie that belief to our highest ideals and imagine that together we can do great things. In those rare moments, when such a person comes along, we need to put aside our plans and reach for what we know is possible.

We have that kind of opportunity with Senator Obama. It isn’t that the other candidates are not experienced or knowledgeable. But this year, that may not be enough. We need a change in the leadership of this country — just as we did in 1960.

Most of us would prefer to base our voting decision on policy differences. However, the candidates’ goals are similar. They have all laid out detailed plans on everything from strengthening our middle class to investing in early childhood education. So qualities of leadership, character and judgment play a larger role than usual.

Senator Obama has demonstrated these qualities throughout his more than two decades of public service, not just in the United States Senate but in Illinois, where he helped turn around struggling communities, taught constitutional law and was an elected state official for eight years. And Senator Obama is showing the same qualities today. He has built a movement that is changing the face of politics in this country, and he has demonstrated a special gift for inspiring young people — known for a willingness to volunteer, but an aversion to politics — to become engaged in the political process.

I have spent the past five years working in the New York City public schools and have three teenage children of my own. There is a generation coming of age that is hopeful, hard-working, innovative and imaginative. But too many of them are also hopeless, defeated and disengaged. As parents, we have a responsibility to help our children to believe in themselves and in their power to shape their future. Senator Obama is inspiring my children, my parents’ grandchildren, with that sense of possibility.

Senator Obama is running a dignified and honest campaign. He has spoken eloquently about the role of faith in his life, and opened a window into his character in two compelling books. And when it comes to judgment, Barack Obama made the right call on the most important issue of our time by opposing the war in Iraq from the beginning.

I want a president who understands that his responsibility is to articulate a vision and encourage others to achieve it; who holds himself, and those around him, to the highest ethical standards; who appeals to the hopes of those who still believe in the American Dream, and those around the world who still believe in the American ideal; and who can lift our spirits, and make us believe again that our country needs every one of us to get involved.

I have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them. But for the first time, I believe I have found the man who could be that president — not just for me, but for a new generation of Americans.

Caroline Kennedy is the author of “A Patriot’s Handbook: Songs, Poems, Stories and Speeches Celebrating the Land We Love.”





 
Posted on 01-27-08 1:04 PM     Reply [Subscribe]
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I used to like Bill but now thats slightly shading away...

May be Big Mac used to control his brain and tahs what made him so popular but ever since he had surgery....neither his brain nor his mouth is under control..

His anger, hes always tempting to fight with Obama and his third grade comments is just going to help him lose more votes. He should just sit back and relax and shut his hole. that might help Hilary to get some more votes since it her who wants to be the president not Bill.Its not Bihar where Rawadi Devi(kala akchar bhais barabar) can be CM buz of Lalo...unless they want to turn America into Bihar


 
Posted on 01-27-08 3:13 PM     Reply [Subscribe]
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This is OBAMA ERA. Everyone will fade away in front of him. BIG OLD BULLY - both Clintons will understand this over time when they realize they are out from competition.
 
Posted on 01-27-08 7:54 PM     Reply [Subscribe]
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eeeehaaaaaa ! :P

man i am loving this. dunno what future has in store for my man obama but the SC's result was too good, a bit overwhelming as well, at least for me :D :P. it was there for the taking anyways but didn't know it would turn out to be a knock-out thrasher hahahaha...piece of cake in the end, no? :D

waiting eagerly for the super tuesday :D would love to see clintons wet their undies HAHAHAHA. i have my fingers crossed though :P


Last edited: 27-Jan-08 08:33 PM

 



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