Has Barack Obama been hiding under a rock for the last 25 years?

[MethuenProgressive]

"There is no Blue State America, no Red State America, no liberal America, no conservative America..."

Hasn't he been paying attention at all?

[frogcycle]

1. it is called denial...

or wishful thinking...


or bullshit

[joshcryer]

6. I vote "bullshit."

It's akin to saying "there's no racism, no sexism, no homophobia!"

[MethuenProgressive]

8. ...naivete, inexperience? Or meaning-free fluffy happy talk ala Reagan.

[RichGirl]

25. It's interesting...

Obama says that if Hillary wins she won't get his supporters. So, apparently he isn't capable of inspiring his own supporters to vote for the democratic candidate, but he's going to bring together the two parties. He ought to focus on fixing the division in OUR party before he starts spouting off about his miraculous unifying abilities.

[MethuenProgressive]

31. He says some truly bizarre things.

Which get defended and parroted by the unthinking members of his crusade.

[chimpymustgo]

46. RichGirl, this deserves it's own thread. You have hit the nail on the head.

I'm a strong advocate of limiting threads in GDP, but this is a good one. Please post - I'd love to see it on the Greatest Page.

[RichGirl]

49. I haven't made a contribution lately...giving my money to Hill.

So I can't make a thread. Go ahead and make one if you want.

[NMMNG]

62. Incoming!

You're going to get slammed for your "lack of hope"/"hatred of hope" by a bunch of people any time now.

[Eurobabe]

2. Oh, I was about to pounce

BTW, I lifted your avatar (KoolAid man)

[Redstone]

No, he just said that so you'd get annoyed and post about it.

Redstone

[Avalux]

3. I know! Shame on him for not noticing we all hate each other!

Everyone knows the President of the United States only represents the people of his party, not all of the American people. ;-)

[polichick]

4. Actually, he's right...

It's "The United States of America."

[Fresh_Start]

5. he's right the entire country is some shade or purple

liberal/conservative labels are BS as well.

Liberal on what?
Conservative on what?

Some people can be liberal on some social issues and conservative on others.
Some people can be conservative economically and liberal socially
just for example....

[DJ13]

7. Its called challenging the those who practice the politics of division

This country has been going downhill fast since the GOP started using divisive politics to destroy long held alliances back in the 80's.

Sure theres many supposedly liberal people who want blood after the 2000 and 2004 elections, but that just plays into the GOP's strength of divisiveness, and wont help our country get back to its former greatness.

[Bicoastal]

9. Damn him for being positive. I wish he'd say "We're All Screwed" more often. nt

Optimism-monger!

[MethuenProgressive]

11. positively wrong about what's been happening for over two decades

Empty, rhyming, rhetoric.

[Bicoastal]

20. If he's wrong about there being no red states and no blue states...

...how come Democrats now have either Governors, Reps, or Senators in every state but Idaho and Alaska? I think he's right about one point--we dismiss Democratic support away from the Coasts and Great Lakes WAY too easily. Many of these states are getting more progressive every day the GOP continues to screw up.

[XemaSab]

56. Word

We even won some counties in Idaho in 2004, and you can't tell me there isn't a good Democratic base up in Alaska.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

10. ahaha

[ginnyinWI]

12. Obama is right

Most of this stuff is an artificial construct.

My parents think they are conservative Republicans and vote that way, but actually they are far, far more liberal than they realize they are. They've been divided and labeled, that's all.

Same with my conservative brother in Maryland. He has no idea he's a liberal--but his conversations give him away.

Some left wingers think that they are progressive, but they are actually rigid and narrow-minded and more devoted to keeping the status quo than they realize.

Each state in this country is a combination of red and blue areas, the cities being the bluest. And each person is a combination of conservative and liberal, depending on what you are measuring.

[dkf]

18. Great post.

Everyone has a range of views and to pigeonhole us is not right.

And we shouldn't do that to ourselves either.

[Cant trust em]

19. true dat

Partisan politics was invented to keep people from realizing their true intent. Most people are middle of the road if not liberal. But they don't want to call themselves liberal because the GOP turned that into a swear word.

[Mags]

47. You BO people believe without question , anything that comes out of BO mouth.

where have you been. Open your minds at least a little and learn, study and find out what he really stands for. It is your duty as a voter. Don't just go with the hot air, the enthusiasm, the flow,just learn before you vote. Know what he will really do for our Country.

[ginnyinWI]

53. anyone who listened to his speech from Virginia today

heard plenty about Obama's plans and what he stands for. I've read his website and his book. There may be enthusiasm, but that does not mean that enthusiasm is all we base our choice on. I'm not a person who will just go with any flow. If so I might be supporting Hillary--because she got started first in this campaign.

[XemaSab]

58. Lakoff:

No center, no centrists. :patriot:

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/08/15/3174/

[nonconformist]

13. Edwards hit it on the nail... there are "Two Americas"

Denying that there aren't is just lofty idealism. You can't bring everyone together unless you truly examine the reasons why they're not and FIX IT.

[MethuenProgressive]

15. It was clear BO's rhetoric was aimed at Edwards at first.

Now it just sounds... blank.

[Bicoastal]

23. WHAT?! You're high. He first used that rhetoric at the 2004 convention...

...in support of Edwards' running mate.

I don't think it sounds blank at all, considering how many "Red States" are voting for Democrats in record numbers.

[Tatiana]

60. Logic just seems to go out the window, doesn't it? n/t

[Political Heretic]

33. Uhh.... Edwards sure as hell wasn't talking about Red and Blue.

And Obama sure as hell isn't denying the two Americas Edwards described.

[dansolo]

37. They aren't talking about the same thing

Are you being deliberately obtuse, or do you not even understand what Edwards was saying? Edwards was referring to the economic disparity, and how the lower and middle classes were not being served by the elites, who primarily work towards enriching themselves and others like them.

Obama was talking about arbitrary political divisions. That is not the same thing.

[ginnyinWI]

54. question: if Edwards endorses Obama, will you vote for him? n/t

[XemaSab]

59. By "Two Americas" he meant the America of privilege and the America of poverty.

If you're an unemployed factory worker, it doesn't matter one whit whether you're a Democrat or a Republican, you're still hosed. :(

[Cant trust em]

14. It's better than "I hate you and you hate me. Let's just go home" n/t

[MethuenProgressive]

21. "Hey, lets all just hug and pretend you haven't been destroying our country!"

[Danger Mouse]

22. Nice Kool Aid Man in your sigline.

It definitely shows your class.

[MethuenProgressive]

26. Some one who posts the things *you* do, crying about a cartoon?

:rofl:
You wouldn't know Class if it bit you in the Ass.

[Danger Mouse]

36. You're a hypocrite as well.

Not at all surprising.

[MethuenProgressive]

42. Somebody call El and see if he's OK, will ya?

Seems very troubled tonight.

[Danger Mouse]

52. haha...

ah, you're alright.
:pals:

[Cant trust em]

27. It's a good thing that you're not running for president

You'd never have a chance in hell of winning. No one is interested in hearing a message of combat and division. The success of Barack Obama is a testament to this. Moreover, he isn't pretending that the policies of George Bush are bad. He just realizes that telling that telling the average citizen that they are a part of the problem isn't going to work.

[MethuenProgressive]

32. "Let's beat the Republicans" v "Let's get all smoochy huggy with the GOP"?

[Cant trust em]

43. Thanks for that well thoughtout post

I'm glad that you used so many supporting ideas to fill out your original statement. You really changed my mind with that. I'm done here.

[cooolandrew]

16. No sorry he's talking about Barack's America you can come join us there in 2009 if you like. =)

[Sapphocrat]

55. Now it's "Barack's America"?

Oh, boy. :eyes:

[NMMNG]

66. Barack's America?

I have no interest in that, thank you very much.

I've met too many of the people who will be there and I don't like them very much.

[Danger Mouse]

17. There is only America.

There are liberal americans, conservative americans, but in the end, we're all one country, one people.

[newmajority]

24. 25 years? Why does that number sound so familiar?

Maybe because it's the same amount of time the Bush-Clinton dynasty has occupied Washington DC.

Coincidence? Let's get them the fuck out of there once and for all, and find out. :)

[robbedvoter]

28. We may have been stealing elections from ourselves all this time - and didn't

even know!

[thevoiceofreason]

29. It is called aspirations.

Damn you must live a dismal life. Your Delta Tau name is "Eeyore."

[Qutzupalotl]

30. Certain people would to well to hide under a rock for the next 25 years.

It would improve the scenery.

[blogslut]

34. The media frames us all and he's not buying it

That's why I dig him.

[Political Heretic]

35. Obama is 100% dead on accurate. Red State Blue State is an invention of the media elite

And pushed onto the people.

When you strip away all the political spin, and the partisan entrenchment, the people of the United States actually SHARE many core beliefs and expectations for their government.

A majority of ordinary people on both sides of the isle believe that we have a health care crisis.

A majority of ordinary people on both sides of the isle believe that this war was either ill-advised or ill-executed or both, and that it is hurting us economically, hurting us diplomatically and that its time we brought it to a close.

A majority of ordinary people on both sides of the isle believe that massive out of control spending and deficits combined with legal exemptions allowing multi-billion dollar corporations to pay less in taxes than a middle-class family is a failure of our system - regardless of what they think about higher or lower taxes in general or about the spending priorities of washington.

A majority of ordinary people across both sides of the isle feel that the protection of constitutional rights for American Citizens matter, and that accountability in government is tragically missing.

The disconnect is between the polarizing propaganda of beltway politicians and the establishment media consistently bombarding the airwaves speaking for the American people and telling them what they believe. While reseach consistently indicates that when partisan rhetoric is stripped away, the American people are overwhelmingly in favor of a richer, progressive more community oriented America.

It is time for a leader who will unite ordinary people across political divides around these common goals. That message of unity is not some secret scheme. It is the vision for a better tomorrow.

John Edwards shared that vision in common with Barak Obama.

[AZBlue]

64. It's also a GOP device to divide us further.

Unfortunately some here would like to continue that division.

[cloud75]

38. WAKE UP PEOPLE!

:applause:

[MethuenProgressive]

40. If the Obamas don't know Conservative America has been waging War on Liberal America...

no wonder they don't mind surrendering...

[XemaSab]

61. It's not the conservative rank and file, it's the conservative elites

playing the politics of divide and conquer to get the little people to fall in line.

Looks like you've fallen right into that trap. :P

[baldguy]

39. The red/blue divide is a product of corporate neocon PROPAGANDA.

Neocons can survive only when they can discourage or prevent most Americans from participating in govt, then get a bare majority in the remainder.

[Sapphocrat]

57. Well, then this illusion has been pretty successful...

...grinding the jackboot into the throats of LGBT Americans for the past seven years.

If this red/blue divide was just a figment of someone's imagination, how'd we end up with constitutional bans on same-sex marriage in 26 states? Who do you think voted for those bans?

[Garbo 2004]

41. I remember O's 2004 convention speech being applauded here at the time as a statement against

the politics of division promulgated and exploited by the Republicans.

[Forkboy]

44. Short of saying, "I'll blow MethuenProgressive for a buck"....

I doubt there's much he could say that would please you. And even that probably wouldn't work.

[NMMNG]

65. Self-delete

.

[MethuenProgressive]

68. dagnabbit...

I always miss the good stuff! :hi:

[NMMNG]

69. It wasn't "good"

It was something I would have regretted later. I'm glad I deleted it.

[crawfish]

45. He's a dreamer..

...and he's not the only one.

I hope someday you'll join us,
and America will live as one...

[ShadowLiberal]

48. It's part of his appeal to moderates/independents

Remember when Bush painted himself as a 'compassionate conservative', it made him look more moderate and more attractive to independents.

What Obama says about hope and change and uniting the country sounds to many people like he's a moderate who wants to end the partisan bickering that has caused so much deadlock and such in Washington.

[stray cat]

50. What most of us have in common is greater than what separates us

with a few extreme exceptions I'm sure. I actually can get along with Americans who live in red and blue states and I still love my republican family members.

[bunnies]

51. Yes. Under a rock and in a hole.

Any other "intelligent" questions"?

[BenDavid]

63. The fact that Obama is largely a media creation as opposed

to a person of any substance or sincerity probably explains why the media lets him get away with so much. After all, what movie director who, while expecting to make an Oscar-winning hit, would derail his own production by exposing it as a fraud and a scam? Obamamania is the Oscar-winning hit, and the media people who are backing it are not going to let Obama’s total lack of character and substance get in the way. **The following excerpt from Henryk Ibsen’s Peer Gynt should underscore what we mean by an empty suit. The protagonist contemplates his life by peeling away layers like those of an onion in an effort to discover his real self.Peer Gynt, in fact, had done far more during his lifetime than Barack Obama has ever done, yet he peels away the layers of his life to find nothing.

**What an enormous number of swathings!
Isn’t the kernel soon coming to light?



I’m blest if it is! To the innermost centre,
it’s nothing but swathings—each smaller and smaller.—
Nature is witty!

[MethuenProgressive]

67. Hall of the Mountian King as the eponymous Obama's theme music?

It could happen.