How did you first become an Obama supporter?

[Kath1]

Leading up to the the last Presidential election, I was 100% for Hillary Clinton. ( I still have the remnants of a "Hillary" sticker on my car.) I had liked and voted for Bill Clinton and hoped she would bring about the same era of peace and prosperity that he had. I thought she had the experience, the smarts and the political savvy to beat the Republicans. Her record on women's rights was impressive. I thought she, as President, would rapidly end the Iraq war. My daughter was enthusiastic about a guy named Barrack Obama. I hadn't heard of him and never thought he had a chance in the world. As I became more educated about Obama, the more I shifted my support to him, although I thought his lack of experience would be a major downside in an election. His record on women's rights was excellent. He was against the Iraq war. I heard him speaking, and I liked what I heard. When Hillary dropped out and endorsed Obama, I was an Obama supporter immediately, especially with the nonsense and lies coming out of "McSame" and Palin. To be honest, the Republicans scared the Hell out of me and I would have voted for any Democrat! I went to the polls, voted Obama and I am so glad that I did.

I very proudly voted Obama/Biden in 2008 and will do so again in 2012.

[limpyhobbler]

1. Just thought he was the best person for he job.

In 2008 I think maybe I was planning on voting for Dennis Kucinich or John Edwards(before we knew about his problems obviously). But by time by primary rolled around for Ohio I think it was down to just him and Hillary. I think she would have made a great president too, by the way.

But I really liked that Obama had come from a different background. Some people might think he's exotic, but really I think his ethnic mix and how he grew up is as much of a typical American story as Bill Clinton's. And certainly a more typical American story than Mitt Romney's or George W. Bush.

I also liked that he had that background as a community organizer. I really admire that kind of thing. I think the final decision came for me when somebody started attacking him for being associated with Rev. Wright, based on some of the Reverend's views. It was intended to scare people away I know. But for me it had the reverse effect. It made me like him more. The speech he gave talking about Rev. Wright and race issues, I think in Philadelphia, right around that time, it had a big impact on me. Even though I criticize the President a lot on some of his policies, really I like him a lot. I support him very strongly. He's done a good job and the alternative would be way worse.

[Scuba]

2. Heard him speak, read about his background and then I was on board.

[aquart]

3. He won the Democratic primary.

I'm real basic that way. I tend not to have stars in my eyes or expect holy perfection.

AND I NEVER FORGET ABOUT THE SUPREME COURT.

[Kath1]

6. Thank You!

"AND I NEVER FORGET ABOUT THE SUPREME COURT."

Neither do I. All Americans, women in particular, need to keep this in mind.

[emulatorloo]

9. Same here. Thanks for posting for me!

[Scout]

18. same for me. n/t

[no_hypocrisy]

4. I attended an informational event in Bayonne, New Jersey.

Store-front, on a Saturday night. I watched a national video hook-up. His ideas made sense. I wished I didn't have to choose between Obama and Hillary. My decision was partly based on Obama's positions and partly based on my feeling that the media would eviscerate Hillary like it did her husband the election would go to the republicans.

[Frustratedlady]

5. I started out with Biden, because I thought Obama needed more time and experience.

But, when Biden got out of the primaries, I switched to Obama. I'm glad it worked out this way. I think they make a good team.

[greatauntoftriplets]

7. I'm from Illinois and knew about him for years.

For me, it was easy.

[MarianJack]

8. My wife and I started as Hillary supporters.

2 things happened.

Obama won fair and square.

Our son moved us. He was 8 years old. As some of you know he is African American and he was SOOO excited about the idea of a president who looked like him! He had also only been aware of the president being identified as an idiot since the only president he'd known was george w moron.

PEACE!

[grantcart]

10. FrenchieCat

I thought she got all of us going here.

[Scurrilous]

13. Yep.

[FrenchieCat]

19. Awe....you sweetie!

[mnglassic]

11. Obama is a moderate version of what I believe in

I was a JFK supporter first, then an LBJ supporter (reluctantly), then Humphrey and then a Mondale and then a McGovern supporter and reluctantly a Carter and then reluctantly (again) a Clinton supporter, and then... when Obama made his remarkable speech at the prior DN convention I realized he was the guy who could articulate the vision of the moderate progressives and could win. As my father used to say, a helluva lot better than a sharp stick in the eye.

[JNelson6563]

12. I was neutral in the primaries

Jumped all in when Obama won. Always liked him. Still do.

Julie

[treestar]

14. When he got the Democratic nomination

That was enough for me. Before that I had been for Kucinich but now see there was no way he'd win or be able to govern well. As the Democratic nominee, Obama had my support, but as I followed the election, I was more and more impressed and became convinced he was the one for the job. And it has proven to be so. He has the intelligence and temperament and skills for this job. I even became more familiar with what a "community organizer" did and thought that was excellent experience for the Presidency. Learning to get people to organize and do things - that's the essence of being President.

[DevonRex]

15. My son had agreed to work for him.

A team from OFA went to his college and recruited those who would be graduating and they recruited him and several of his friends. He was SO excited. He came home and just oozed enthusiasm. He got us all on board, the whole family.

[struggle4progress]

16. Edwards went down in flames. I liked Clinton and thought it was time for a woman President,

but didn't want an ex-President's wife to follow an ex-President's son in the Oval Office. I liked Obama and thought it was time for a minority President

[thevoiceofreason]

17. Heard him give a speech to the national convention of our church in 2007

Mrs. Voice and I liked him immediately. Backed him early and helped set up his all-volunteer (initially) Houston office. Enjoyed the fact that a UCC family might (and did) occupy the White House. Believed that the former Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Law Review would know how to manage a room full of really smart people. I am thrilled with his work.

[FrenchieCat]

20. Had been an Avid Wes Clark Supporter in 2004.....

and when Clark declined to run in 2008 and endorsed Hillary,
I thought about that and said...Well ok....this is where we part.

I didn't feel that doing a Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton was healthy for this country,
and I just thought that Barack Obama was the right person for the times,
and once decided in October of 2007...I never looked back!
The rest is history!

[Cha]

22. I remember that, Frenchie!

ALOHA, Frenchie~!

[FrenchieCat]

23. Hey Cha! Howyoudoin' love?

[Cha]

21. He had me at his Oct 2, 2002

speech against the war on Iraq..as being a "dumb war". He said all the things that came true way before they happened. Most prescient like everyone who was working with full brain capacity and a heart.

Course, I didn't find out about that speech until 2007..but, after reading it I was totally committed to helping him get elected and I haven't been disappointed in the least. He's just the right President for our Time and I'm so grateful to be here to experience it.

PObama is way beyond just thinking about the Supreme Court..although, there are a bunch of scary judges up there and willard the lying sociopath would no doubt get bork on if he could.

Edit~ English language probs.

[Kath1]

24. Thanks, Cha!

I didn't know about that speech either until my daughter turned me on to it. I loved it that he had the courage at the time to call it a "dumb war". When I looked into his record on womens' rights I was sold 100%.

I haven't been disappointed,either. I am looking forward to four more years.

[NYC Liberal]

25. I was for Hillary in the primaries and volunteered for her campaign.

But I never disliked Obama and in fact I liked him a lot. So when the primaries were over and Obama had won, I had no problem getting behind him 100% for the election.

[damonm]

26. He had me w/ the DNC speech in 2004...

I remember telling my wife at the time, "remember this guy - the republicans better watch the hell out for him. Too bad he's not running now."

[loyalsister]

29. Same here

I had recorded the convention because I wasn't going to be home. His speech blew me away. I passed the video around to some friends and I told them he would be our first black president. I didn't expect it to be so soon, though.
I read "The Audacity of Hope" when it came out, and I was fully committed when he started making noise about running.

[politicasista]

31. To be fair

Last edited Mon May 21, 2012, 06:47 PM - Edit history (1)

As much as people wished that Obama was the candidate that year, IDT he would have been able to beat Bush and the Rovian machine.

Me understands that people felt indifferent because they didn't like the candidate or held anger inside over what happened to heavily favorites, so they were holding out for a fresh face.

People were still in fear mode and the country had not turned against the wars and the economy. Plus, Obama didn't have Democratic surrogates siding with the other side and sitting on their hands while their candidate was smeared. The social media outlets weren't invented until after the 04 cycle.

Proud of candidate Obama/President Obama for showing love for Dems that have his back, rather than throw them under the bus as a grand strategy to win votes.

That being said, it was mid 2007 that Obama became the favorite because of everything that has been mentioned in this thread. Voted for him in the 08 primaries and GE, and will be voting for him all the way.

People may disagree, but this is JMO.

[Cracklin Charlie]

27. Portland

Like you, I was a Hillary supporter in the early stages of the 2008 campaign. I even voted for Hillary in Missouri's primary. One day I saw, on Democratic Underground, a photograph of the future President onstage at a rally in Portland (maybe April 08) that was attended by an estimated 75,000 people. He stood on that stage, seemingly completely at ease in front of all those people (75K is a big crowd) and I thought "This guy has nerves of steel". Right then I changed my vote to Obama and never wavered.

It just seemed to hit me at that very moment that this was a guy who was unafraid of whatever they could throw at him. I also had the feeling that he would not be too upset to have his name on schools, bridges, hospitals, highways, and buildings. To my mind, there is only one way for him to achieve that kind of tribute. Good presidents (Roosevelts, Lincoln, Washington) are the ones who receive that kind of acclaim.

[JustAnotherGen]

28. Edwards was a wash

And my second choice (Biden) wasn't making it . . . Oh and my father threatened to disown me if I didn't get on board with the program! He was a Precint Captain in what he referred to as The War on Stupidity - ie the Obama Campaign. Dad had an awesome sense of humor - but he once made me sit at the children's table during a family reunion because I told him I voted for Pataki for Governor.

[Rowdyboy]

30. My partner and I started out for Clinton mainly out of loyalty to Bill but were always intrigued by

Obama.

Then in the sping of 2008 Geraldine Ferraro made some very hateful comment that made it easy to switch over top Obama.....From wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geraldine_Ferraro

In March 2008 she gave an interview with the Daily Breeze in which she said: "If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept."[175][178][179] Ferraro justified the statements by referring to her own run for vice president. Echoing a statement she wrote about herself in 1988,[30] Ferraro said that "I was talking about historic candidacies and what I started off by saying (was that) if you go back to 1984 and look at my historic candidacy, which I had just talked about all these things, in 1984, if my name was Gerard Ferraro instead of Geraldine Ferraro, I would have never been chosen as a vice-presidential candidate. It had nothing to do with my qualification."[175] Her comments resonated with some older white women, but generated an immediate backlash elsewhere.[180] There was strong criticism and charges of racism from many supporters of Obama[181] and Obama called them "patently absurd".[176] Clinton publicly expressed disagreement with Ferraro's remarks, while Ferraro vehemently denied she was a racist.[175] Again speaking to the Breeze, Ferraro responded to the attacks by saying: "I really think they're attacking me because I'm white. How's that?"[176][182] Ferraro resigned from Clinton's finance committee on March 12, 2008, two days after the firestorm began, saying that she didn't want the Obama camp to use her comments to hurt Clinton's campaign.[183]

Ferraro continued to engage the issue and criticize the Obama campaign via her position as a Fox News Channel contributor.[184][185][186] By early April, Ferraro said people were deluging her with negative comments and trying to get her removed from one of the boards she was on: "This has been the worst three weeks of my life."[186] Ferraro stated in mid-May 2008 that Clinton had "raised this whole woman candidate thing to a whole different level than when I ran".[187] She thought Obama had behaved in a sexist manner and that she might not vote for him.[187]



I still hope Hillary runs and wins in 2016 but sadly I lost all respect for Rep Ferraro when I read the story. A very sad end to a once impressive career.

[Wait Wut]

32. This won't make me terribly popular.

I didn't like Hillary. At all. I was cautious about this Sen. Obama, so I started watching, listening and reading everything I could find. There was one particular speech I watched (I can't remember...it was pre-stroke. ) and that was all it took. His energy, passion and courage were things I hadn't seen in a Presidential candidate in...forever? I took up the flag and ran with it and still haven't looked back.

I don't think I've ever been more proud to cast a vote in my lifetime. This time, it will be done with a vengeance. Hell no we're not giving the damned keys back.

[soccer1]

33. Supported Obama from the day he announced

I had been keeping an eye on Obama since 2004......reading about him, listening to him and I was hoping he would run. I was very pleased when he announced he was running for POTUS but I was concerned that too many Americans wouldn't be ready yet for an African American as president. But, in the primary, I decided to vote for Obama who best represented my beliefs, particularly on matters of foreign policy, regardless of his chances of winning the general election . I believe Hillary is a great SOS, but her vote on the Iraq war would not allow me to vote for her in the primary. Edwards....never cared for him. I liked Richardson but I strongly favored Obama.

My "republican" husband so liked Obama he switched his registration from rep. to dem so he could vote for Obama in our PA primary.

I think things turned out just great....Hillary in her position of strength and Obama's in his and Biden doing just fine as VP.

[freshwest]

34. First thing, a 2007 video showing his knowledge. The debates showed grace, openness and maturity.

Last edited Thu May 31, 2012, 11:56 PM - Edit history (1)

Barack Obama: What we gain by stopping the war

We were going through these figures in town halls, berating our representatives about several things. For not impeaching Bush, not trying Cheney, not de-funding the war. Later I thought these things out on my own, why it wasn't being done. The kind of detailed figures Obama explains in IA were available to politically active people across the nation.

No one talked about such specifics in the campaign other than Obama. Except for Gravel and Kucinich, it appeared the conventional Democratic position was not much different than the GOP in urgency to end it. This gave me the impetus to explore Obama and his positions and I liked what I saw.

Until I joined DU in 2010, I was posting elsewhere from the time of Tom Delay's brown shirts arriving in FL to disrupt the vote in November of 2000. That was just before DU started. I was on a board whose name referred to the stolen election of 2000 and we raged together and comforted each other. Then came the election of 2008 and there was a bitter split there.

Then came the 8 years of the Bush administration with a level corruption and shameless warmongering I'd never seen before in my life. I've argued and followed all these issues and the numerical majorities lost or gained with every election and all the right wing talking points.

DU was like a breath of fresh air for a while here and then I saw the same voices I'd argued with appear, all tearing down and no solutions. It'll be hard to win this year, because more money has been pumped into influencing the public than ever. But I don't know how any thinking person could watch that video and fail to understand the caliber of the man Obama is.

Just MHO.

[babylonsister]

35. I was a Kucinich supporter

but it didn't take long to realize he wasn't going anywhere. I had to pick someone and also didn't think we needed the Clintons around again. I knew the rethugs had boatloads of stuff to throw at them both and didn't want to see any more mud-bogging than we were already going to be subjected to.
Once I started paying attention to the debates among candidates, for all his small stumbles, I came to greatly admire the man and the courage it took to be in contention. I also loved his intelligence and quick thinking, and I'm sure reading/posting on DU influenced me. I also never looked back, and haven't yet!
GOBAMA 2012!

[Kath1]

36. Hey, babylonsister!

I really liked Kucinich, as well, especially anti-war stand, but I knew he couldn't win. Went with Obama and I am so glad I did! I am really looking forward to this election and the next 4 years! GOBAMA 2012!!!

[mopinko]

37. he's my homie.

every progressive politician i know was there in springfield in february. most of them had been on the trail with him for senate. i got to see a bit of him then, and liked him very much.
the only reason i wasn't there for the kick off is that i still had my fingers crossed that al gore would jump in.

[mollerjay]

38. I was an Obama supporter from the get go

I was afraid that Mrs. Clinton (who I love, dont get me wrong) would have too much baggage to successfully win the presidency.

[Scurrilous]

39. Nice try!

[Jamaal510]

40. I wasn't old enough to vote yet during the Democratic Primaries in '08,

since my 18th b-day wasn't until May of that year. But I decided once the Democrats had their nominee, I would support him or her because I was extremely terrified of another four years under a Republican president.

[handmade34]

41. was teaching HS in 2004

I recorded this and showed it to my students the next day with the warning to watch out for this guy in the near future!!

[Burke36]

42. How did you first become an Obama supporter?

[IMG][/IMG]I very much agree with your point of view

[Andrew67]

43. How did you first become an Obama supporter?

[IMG][/IMG]Good point

[MADem]

44. I came to support Obama after he cinched the nomination.

I understand that a Democrat in the WH beats a Republican! I was a Clinton supporter during the campaign season, but there was really no point in pouting--we had an election to win. Over time, I came to admire the guy's steadfastness and coolness under pressure. Even when he had the occasional staff misstep, as new administrations often do, he was able to glide through it with panache. The way he handled media kerfluffles reminded me a bit of how Bill Clinton could distract from the unimportant crap when the GOP would try to rattle him, and put the focus on the important message at hand. It's a great skill to have, and I notice when I see someone employing it masterfully!

So, POTUS has my full support for the next election--I hope he kicks ass and has a WONDERFUL 2nd term.

[Kath1]

45. Thank you, MADem!

"So, POTUS has my full support for the next election--I hope he kicks ass and has a WONDERFUL 2nd term." - Me too. Go Obama! Kick Republican ass in 2012!

[MADem]

46. There's a certain amount of freedom in being a lame duck.

Obama needs a supportive legislature--I do hope we can deliver that, too. We can get a LOT done if that happens.

[Kath1]

47. I'll be doing eveything I can to make that happen!

And I know you will, too!

[BEAU1943]

48. PRESIDENTIAL POLL - WHO WILL YOU VOTE FOR?

When I realized Republican ideology and Bush's policies crashed our economy.

Please do me a favor and vote in this poll below...

http://usworldpolitics.com/#vote