A trip down memory lane with Barack Obama in light of the past week

[draft_mario_cuomo]

When Obama launched his campaign (January 17, 2007):

==The freshman Democratic senator from Illinois said the past six years had left the country in a precarious place and he promoted himself as the standard-bearer for “a new kind of politics.”

“Our leaders in Washington seem incapable of working together in a practical, common-sense way,” Obama said in a video posted on his Web site. “Politics has become so bitter and partisan, so gummed up by money and influence, that we can't tackle the big problems that demand solutions. And that's what we have to change first.==

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20070117/news_1n17obama.html

From Obama's formal announcement (Feb. 10, 2007):

==What's stopped us from meeting these challenges is not the absence of sound policies and sensible plans. What's stopped us is the failure of leadership, the smallness of our politics - the ease with which we're distracted by the petty and trivial, our chronic avoidance of tough decisions, our preference for scoring cheap political points instead of rolling up our sleeves and building a working consensus to tackle big problems.==

http://www.barackobama.com/2007/02/10/remarks_of_senator_barack_obam_11.php

[illinoisprogressive]

1. your point being?????

[jefferson_dem]

2. Optimism and hope is a good thing. I'm glad he remains true to his word.

Thanks for reminding us of his overriding campaign theme.

EDIT: K/R :bounce:

[BeyondGeography]

3. And many thought "Obambi" was a wimp who wouldn't attack Hillary at the appropriate time

Being called "naive and irresponsible" represented the appropriate time. Au revoir Obambi, bonjour tristesse for the Hillarians.

As for whatever happened to the politics of hope, you can probably find the answer at the next overflow rally, which will take place whenever Obama wants it to take place.

[Dawgs]

4. I don't get it.

Are you referring to the way Hillary tried to score cheap political points by calling Obama "naive"? Did you expect Obama to not respond? Would you expect Edwards, or any other candidate, to not respond? What would they be calling Obama now if he ignored Hillary's attack?

[draft_mario_cuomo]

5. Responding is one thing, name-calling is another

He had to respond but calling a Democratic rival "Bush-Cheney-lite" and "naive and irresponsible" is exactly what he claims to stand against.

[MannyGoldstein]

6. Sadly, This Is The Only Way To Deal With The Clintons

These are people who sent Carville out to call Dean's marvelous domination of the '06 elections a "failure of Rumsfeldian proportion". I grew up in New York City, and got in way too many fights - but I can say for sure that the only way to deal with an attack by a bully is to hit back hard.