If there was ONE THING about my candidate I wish I could communicate better to the other side:

[Bonobo]

I will start:

-I think the main criticism against Obama that bothers me is that he is not liberal enough and will reach across to the other side by sacrificing Democratic/Liberal ideals.

I believe, first of all, that it is NOT NECESSARY to sacrifice any of our democratic principles and still gain back voters from the Republican side. This is, simply, because many people are misinformed, vote for one party our of loyalty/parents, etc. For example, how many of you reading this knows a Republican that you know SHOULD NOT BE a Republican (because of their economic status or general liberal mindset). Some of these people are military people, forced into the Republican side because they bought the Reagan lie that Dems are not patriots or don't love god or whatever. It's bullshit and has nothing to do with liberal ideas. Hell, the whole Jesus spiel is as liberal as you can get.

So there is a group we should never have lost: Patriotic or religious, blue collar southerners. They should have been ours but we lost them. When did we lose them? When did we lose the south? When civil rights legislation was signed, that's when. LBJ knew it when he signed it, but sign it he did.

Now, 4 decades later we have the opportunity to have a black man lead this country. He is popular among the white community. Why? The reasons are manifold. But could one of them be that the US is ready to exorcise the ghost of Slavery? Can the Democrats retake the South that they lost over Civil Rights? Is the South ready to vote for a Black man?

I believe so. There are enough Black role models that have penetrated deeply into the mainstream. It no longer makes quite so many people flinch.

Obama IS carefully managing his behavior in an attempt to draw a wide group of people who otherwise would not see the correct side to be on. That is what we want. We want to cripple the Republicans by bringing back the people that never should have left our party but who were sucked out and split off when we allowed the politics of division to cut us apart.

To make the other side see that DEM VALUES ARE THEIR VALUES. A fair salary for hard work, union issues, health care, etc. Then, in 20 years, it will be THEY who are trying to win back the "Obama Republicans".

[Avalux]

1. Obama.....

...a liberal with the ability to convince conservatives and everyone in the middle he isn't really a liberal and then persuade them to work with him to put his liberal policies into action. ;-)

[Bonobo]

2. You got it.

Because he looks for what is common in people, not the differences.