For Democrats Character Counts

[illinoisprogressive]

Now, Sen. Clinton is proceeding gingerly. She has called for universal healthcare, but unlike Obama and Edwards, she has not yet released a plan to bring it about. "Her policies have not been bold," said Robert Reich, who has known Clinton since college and served as secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration but now describes himself as unaligned. "Her caution and her hearkening back to the good years of the '90s might also serve to help Obama and hurt her own candidacy in terms of who is the truly new and transformative candidate, " he said.

More than policy, what the Democratic candidates are selling is biography.

Obama's is the most unusual, and so far it seems to be a plus. His mother was American, his father Kenyan and he spent much of his childhood living abroad. He attended Harvard Law School, then went into community organizing and politics.That life story seems to appeal to those seeking something different. It's also made him a hard target for rivals: He hasn't done one thing long enough to build a record to shoot at.

Clinton has the opposite problem: She has been in the public eye so long that a significant number of voters have negative opinions about her -- and she hasn't yet found a way to change those minds. Among Democrats, a solid majority wants her to win the nomination, but those who oppose her seem implacable.

"If she gets the nomination I will not even vote," said Pat Steinfort, of Mason City, Iowa, a retiree who says her nickname is "Pat the Democrat." "I don't like Hillary, period. She's too strong-minded."

Clinton's unfavorable rating in June was 44%, compared with 24% for Obama and 32% for Edwards, according to a CNN poll.She attacks the problem by talking about her childhood, about her mother Dorothy Rodham's hardscrabble existence, about her own distinctly human tastes."I've got to tell you, I love to shop," she told an audience in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on July Fourth.

Obama too sometimes goes out of his way to suggest that he's only human. Campaigning at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines last month, he allowed himself to be catapulted 125 feet straight up into the air on a ride called "Big Ben."

All candidates do such things to demonstrate they're just like everyone else, but in Obama's case, there's an extra dimension to it.

Democratic strategist Robert M. Shrum said that when Jesse Jackson ran for president in 1984, he was viewed as a black candidate.

"Obama is seen as a Democratic candidate who happens to be African American," Shrum said. "He's bigger than his race just as John F. Kennedy was bigger than his religion." President Kennedy was Catholic.

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-dems3sep03,0,1517687.story?coll=la-politics-campaignhttp://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-dems3sep03,0,1517687.story?page=2&coll=la-politics-campaign

[msongs]

1. democrats who will not vote for the party nominee are wasting our time nt

[LWolf]

4. It could be said that

democrats who insist on nominating a candidate that divides their own party to the extent that some will not vote "D" in the general election are wasting the party's, and the nation's, time.

Out of the 8 nominees, there are at least 5 that don't divide the party to that extreme. The party does not have to end up divided.

That sword cuts both ways.

[pocoloco]

2. Not to worry over details

the US is not quite ready for a black or a woman president.

[Colobo]

3. The country is very ready, and Obama will make it happen.