Comments on: Obama's Oratory Grabbing Spotlight

Being Compared To JFK, Drawing Huge Crowds, Moving Some To Tears; Pundits, Rivals Noticing

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by nicksp2 February 14, 2008 6:45 PM EST
Read the truth in the Chicago Sun Times (umm..isn''t that where Obama is from??)

http://www.suntimes.com/news/elections/794128,CST-NWS-campweb14.article

and he can''t even respond to it cuz he knows it''s true!
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by remco82 February 14, 2008 6:37 PM EST
Obama has charisma. He has the ability to kindle hope among the people. McCain offers four more years of nutso Bushism while Hillary brays like a donkey and is a total fake. Go Barack!
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by nicksp2 February 14, 2008 6:33 PM EST
real nice, Tracymorgan3. Maybe Obama''s got your tongue and all his minions have lost the ability to speak for themselves in proper sentences without being rude?
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by nicksp2 February 14, 2008 6:30 PM EST
Unfortunately what the media don''t show here in their glassy eyed support of Obama is the fact that he is plagarizing his ideas from Clinton - whenever he actually concedes to giving specifics! His green collar jobs, his infrastructure bank...we''ve heard it all before because Clinton started talking about it in 2007! Yes, a brilliant orator, too bad his policies are not his own. That tells me a lot about what will happen if he makes it to the White House. Scary!
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by flreason February 14, 2008 4:55 PM EST
Infidel: Could you put in the kinds of hours he has on the campaign trail, and then get up in front of a crowd of 15,000 people and consistently be a glib off-the-cuff speaker? If so, then maybe you should consider running for office. Candidates are human. I think Obama''s poise as a public speaker is improving with time. He certainly uses speechwriters--as did JFK (Pierre Salinger) and most other national politicians. Bush isn''t genuine or folksy, he just can''t read well--even teleprompters.
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by infidel_us February 14, 2008 4:33 PM EST
He sounds good as long as the teleprompters are working. When he has to hack it on his own, he really shows off how little he knows.
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by bikegirl03 February 14, 2008 4:16 PM EST
You''re right about working people. We are NOT in the least bit enchanted by BHO''s rants and raves. I am NOT getting goosebumps....rather, I am frightened about the hidden agendas of this man and what it means if he gets into the big house! WAKE UP YOU FOOLS!
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by flreason February 14, 2008 3:45 PM EST
jack3213:

Well put. Many of your points are accurate, although I would like to know your source for "80% of Obama''s contributions" being affiliated with business. If I work, does that make me associated with business? However, Obama''s hundreds of thousands of individual donors is unprecedented.

Having said that, the only way for the needed reforms to be implemented is for people who espouse those goals to seek office, and for voters who understand the need to become activists, educators, and advocates. When an aware electorate demands candidates who will implement these reforms--and holds them to their promises--then we will see our government transformed. From my perspective, that means that party loyalist and religious/idealogical litmus tests that discourage intelligent candidates from running need to be de-emphasized. The current system rewards "yes men": system manipulators who play the game by the system rules for their personal gain. We need a 21st century Thomas Paine who can awaken and energize our electorate. I think the successes of Huckabee and Obama give us cause for hope.

There are no perfect candidates, just as there are no perfect political systems. Both have to be constantly monitored and adjusted when they stray too far from their roles as workers for the common good.
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by barbaraf4 February 14, 2008 3:21 PM EST
After listening to 8 years of a moron who has a mouthful of marbles and who cannot speak in complete sentences, Obama''s words fall like rain on a thirsty soul. (Who is his speech writer? Tell me he writes his own speeches and I will really be impressed).
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by jack3213 February 14, 2008 2:53 PM EST
Here are some realities that neither group wants to face: Both candidates are establishment insiders
Both are corporate-state politicians. Large sources of Obama money are law firms, investment houses, and real estate companies, and 80 percent of his donors are affiliated with business, compared to 85 percent for Clinton.Neither are true progressives or populists, like Kucinich and Edwards.
Both Clinton the fighter and Obama the talker will sell out once they confront presidential realities. Why? Because plutocracies know how to retain power AFTER elections. After two years it will be clear that the new president will have failed to extract the US from Iraq, will have failed to deliver universal health care, will have failed to address illegal immigration, will have done nothing to get a new and serious 9/11 investigation, will have done nothing to stop middle-class-killing globalization, and will have utterly disappointed the vast majority of Americans.
Finally, for those seeking serious political system reforms, it is troubling that neither Clinton nor, especially, Obama have the courage to advocate needed constitutional amendments, such as replacing the Electoral College with the popular vote for president, getting all private money out of politics, making universal health care a right, and preventing presidential signing statements that undermine laws.

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by plevy888 February 14, 2008 2:50 PM EST
I don''t begrudge any journalist for his or her constitutional right to personally support or oppose political candidates -- but using their media outlets to play with their audience''s emotions is a bit much.
Chris Matthews has lost his credibility.
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by flreason February 14, 2008 2:36 PM EST
That should read: "Obama is the only candidate that offers them a real change."
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by flreason February 14, 2008 2:33 PM EST
"All of this talk about a "movement" is ridiculous; ...After the election (if they even show up) most of them will go back to not caring a bit about politics; I''''ve seen it happen already."
Posted by destardi1

Since you say you were one of the young supporters of Bill Clinton in ''91, you''re not old enough to remember the last time young voters were this energized. In 1968, young voters forced a sitting President (Johnson) to drop a bid for reelection. They propelled Gene McCarthy and Robert Kennedy to frontrunner status. If Kennedy hadn''t been assassinated, he would undoubtedly have been elected President. I became a government relations professional and have stayed involved in party politics. You might want to look at youth and the labor movement in the 1930s, as well.

In ''68 it was an unpopular war and the draft that energized our generation. In ''08, it''s an unpopular war, and government/corporate corruption bankrupting the country and jeopardizing the future of this generation of workers that motivates them. Obama is the only candidate who seems to offer then a real change.

The reason your generation didn''t stay energized was because you took the Clinton era prosperity for granted. Your personal view of history lacks depth and accuracy.
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by pseudo19 February 14, 2008 1:47 PM EST
Rumors abound Obama is the Anti Christ..more truth tahn humor....
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by gunownerdan February 14, 2008 1:33 PM EST

"Today we need a nation of minute men; citizens who are not only prepared to take up arms, but citizens who regard the preservation of freedom as a basic purpose of their daily life and who are willing to consciously work and sacrifice for that freedom. The cause of liberty, the cause of American, cannot succeed with any lesser effort."
-- President John F. Kennedy, January 29, 1961

A-HUMAN-RIGHT.com
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by vet_sk February 14, 2008 1:31 PM EST
Obama''s speeches are not empty. That''s Hillary rhetoric. Have you listened to him?

Folks, I agree. We need hope in this country. We need a mouthpiece to the world - to let them know the real United States is back again. And this is better done with someone who was against the war from the beginning. The world is ticked at us right now for the Iraq War, and I am afraid, rightfully so.
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by DCropp February 14, 2008 1:14 PM EST
Some would argue that Barack is nothing more than an a great orator. It''s interesting to note that he was the first one to come out and talk about putting America back to work by rebuilding America''s infrastructure.

Many of us have witnessed deteriorating roads, collapsing bridges, broken levies, etc. Barack announced plans to rebuild these. He also wants to build renewable energy resources. All this and he already has planned how to finance it, so we''re not running a huge deficit.

Between fixing the infrastructure and renewable energy, maybe Americans once again can be united and proud.

As for hope...
Many of our ancestors came to America because of hope. Hope is what gets us out of bed in the morning. Hope is what makes us strive to be better people. Every parent hopes to give their child a better life than they had. Hope is what America is built on. From hope, our ancestors grew the United States of America.
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by briannorwood February 14, 2008 12:48 PM EST
"All of this talk about a "movement" is ridiculous;"--destardi1.

You just don''t get it yet. Keep trying.
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by briannorwood February 14, 2008 12:47 PM EST
"To encourage a country with only rhetoric...is not a promise of hope. It''s a platitude." -- McCain.


Thanks Grandpa. I''m sure your opinion was a real hit back at the old folk''s home.
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by gumbo1962 February 14, 2008 12:40 PM EST
Barf! Barf! Barf! I just lost my breakfast!
Please don''t be trapped into the deception.

Don''t get caught up in the media frenzy and feel good tingling sensation.

He''s a Wolf in sheeps clothing! Don''t Trust Him!
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