"Confident if not cocky." (ABC World News Tonight description of Obama today)

[journalist3072]

So I was just watching ABC World News Tonight, and their coverage of the primaries in the DC/MD/VA area today.

They showed Obama with Mayor Fenty, and the report described Obama's mood today as "confident if not cocky."

And I thought: That about sums it up regarding Obama. His arrogance continues to amaze me.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

1. You'd prefer him to be "charming and charismatic?"

:evilgrin:

[journalist3072]

3. I'd prefer him to be humble and gracious. eom

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

9. What would that look like?

What would you like him to do that he is not currently doing?

I mean besides lose.

[intaglio]

20. Like who?

[rodeodance]

44. Obama's first coming

Forum Name General Discussion: Primaries
Topic subject Obama's first coming
Topic URL http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
4540643, Obama's first coming
Posted by rodeodance on Mon Feb-11-08 04:55 PM




I think this Oz author raises some valid questions that we should all critically think about.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,2318...

Obama's first coming

Washington correspondent Geoff Elliott | February 09, 2008

IT was early 1994 when Nelson Mandela gave a speech in a slum outside Cape Town and spoke in grand terms of a new beginning and how when he was elected president every household would have a washing machine.

People took him literally. A few months later he became South Africa's first black president. That's when clerks in department stores in Cape Town had to turn people away demanding their free washer and dryer.
.......
How does a cult figure, in the eyes of some something akin to a messiah, make the transition to a political frontrunner - president even - where disappointment will soon crush what seemed to be a journey to a promised land?
Looking into the faces of a more than 16,000-strong crowd in a basketball stadium in Hartford, Connecticut this week, the Mandela magic I'd seen before was there too. Black and white, and the youth; they appeared in a state close to rapture watching Obama speak. Here and there one could see women crying and the some men wiping away tears too.
.......
In the US today there are echoes of that Rainbow Revolution. Through the media and on the streets people are getting a bit giddy over Obama. In this man they are projecting a new course - one that he says he will lead - where the US buries the culture wars, charts a new course in bipartisan politics and heralds a new dawn for America. ......
........
And therein lays the danger for Obama. The Obama shuttle has made it into orbit but at some point he's going to have to land this thing back on Earth.
.........
But the danger remains for Obama in managing the cult-like fervour. Obviously, he's no messiah and lofty expectations of his supporters is something that Obama is also acutely aware of. In stockmarket parlance, Obama's share price is soaring on expected future earnings. Clinton, 20 years in the public eye, is like the industrial conglomerate: steady share price and reliable dividends. Think of Obama as Google and Clinton as General Electric.
.............
"We can do this," he told ecstatic supporters on Tuesday night. "It will not be easy. It will require struggle and sacrifice. There will setbacks and we will make mistakes."
But then Obama, in the next sentence, in attempt to appeal to more voters out there, didn't even mention the Democratic Party but instead his "movement" saying: "I want to speak directly to all those Americans who have yet to join this movement but still hunger for change: we need you. We need you to stand with us, and work with us, and help us prove that together, ordinary people can still do extraordinary things".
.........
In his Super Tuesday speech Obama said "we are the ones we've been waiting for", attempting to make the case the time was now to get some "change" in Washington: a post-partisan world where politicians reach across the aisle for the common good. "This time can be different because this campaign for the presidency of the United States of America is different," he said. "It's different not because of me. It's different because of you."
.......
"Rather than focusing on any specific issue or cause - other than an amorphous desire for change - the message is becoming dangerously self-referential. The Obama campaign all too often is about how wonderful the Obama campaign is."
I hear that too in the voices of Obama's staff constantly, themselves referring to this "cult of Obama".
"Even if he doesn't go all the way, and I'm not being defeatist, I'm so thrilled to be a part of this and see the size of the crowds turning out," one staffer tells me.
.........
. He may well build an unstoppable momentum. And then the giddiness might evaporate and be replaced with something else. In marketing they call it post-purchase disappointment. If he gets the Democratic Party's nomination another test begins anew: how to turn the narrative which is all about striving for what is possible, to one where people are suddenly asking how are you actually going to do it?

[NorthernSpy]

58. why -- you never are

:eyes:

[HeraldSquare212]

2. "Cocky"? What's with the sexist descriptors? nt

[sniffa]

4. Your threads and posts continue to amaze me

I don't why I'm constantly surprised by what you write, but I am again. :patriot:

[yeswecan08]

5. Obama is a natural-born leader and he succeeds at everything he does

[Franks Wild Years]

14. I'd rather that than....

...tooth grindingly false, as per a certain other leading candidate.

Besides, people who brand him 'cocky' reading him the wrong way. And failing to note that most truly great leaders (which he might have the chance to become...) have a very high opinion of themselves from cradle to grave.

[yeswecan08]

15. They'r'e just trying to smear him because they're jealous

[rodeodance]

21. YUP--here you go: Obama's first coming

Forum Name General Discussion: Primaries
Topic subject Obama's first coming
Topic URL http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x4540643#4540643
4540643, Obama's first coming
Posted by rodeodance on Mon Feb-11-08 04:55 PM




I think this Oz author raises some valid questions that we should all critically think about.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23182456-28737,00.html

Obama's first coming

Washington correspondent Geoff Elliott | February 09, 2008

IT was early 1994 when Nelson Mandela gave a speech in a slum outside Cape Town and spoke in grand terms of a new beginning and how when he was elected president every household would have a washing machine.

People took him literally. A few months later he became South Africa's first black president. That's when clerks in department stores in Cape Town had to turn people away demanding their free washer and dryer.
.......
How does a cult figure, in the eyes of some something akin to a messiah, make the transition to a political frontrunner - president even - where disappointment will soon crush what seemed to be a journey to a promised land?
Looking into the faces of a more than 16,000-strong crowd in a basketball stadium in Hartford, Connecticut this week, the Mandela magic I'd seen before was there too. Black and white, and the youth; they appeared in a state close to rapture watching Obama speak. Here and there one could see women crying and the some men wiping away tears too.
.......
In the US today there are echoes of that Rainbow Revolution. Through the media and on the streets people are getting a bit giddy over Obama. In this man they are projecting a new course - one that he says he will lead - where the US buries the culture wars, charts a new course in bipartisan politics and heralds a new dawn for America. ......
........
And therein lays the danger for Obama. The Obama shuttle has made it into orbit but at some point he's going to have to land this thing back on Earth.
.........
But the danger remains for Obama in managing the cult-like fervour. Obviously, he's no messiah and lofty expectations of his supporters is something that Obama is also acutely aware of. In stockmarket parlance, Obama's share price is soaring on expected future earnings. Clinton, 20 years in the public eye, is like the industrial conglomerate: steady share price and reliable dividends. Think of Obama as Google and Clinton as General Electric.
.............
"We can do this," he told ecstatic supporters on Tuesday night. "It will not be easy. It will require struggle and sacrifice. There will setbacks and we will make mistakes."
But then Obama, in the next sentence, in attempt to appeal to more voters out there, didn't even mention the Democratic Party but instead his "movement" saying: "I want to speak directly to all those Americans who have yet to join this movement but still hunger for change: we need you. We need you to stand with us, and work with us, and help us prove that together, ordinary people can still do extraordinary things".
.........
In his Super Tuesday speech Obama said "we are the ones we've been waiting for", attempting to make the case the time was now to get some "change" in Washington: a post-partisan world where politicians reach across the aisle for the common good. "This time can be different because this campaign for the presidency of the United States of America is different," he said. "It's different not because of me. It's different because of you."
.......
"Rather than focusing on any specific issue or cause - other than an amorphous desire for change - the message is becoming dangerously self-referential. The Obama campaign all too often is about how wonderful the Obama campaign is."
I hear that too in the voices of Obama's staff constantly, themselves referring to this "cult of Obama".
"Even if he doesn't go all the way, and I'm not being defeatist, I'm so thrilled to be a part of this and see the size of the crowds turning out," one staffer tells me.
.........
. He may well build an unstoppable momentum. And then the giddiness might evaporate and be replaced with something else. In marketing they call it post-purchase disappointment. If he gets the Democratic Party's nomination another test begins anew: how to turn the narrative which is all about striving for what is possible, to one where people are suddenly asking how are you actually going to do it?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

23. Huh.

So is Elliott saying the people of South Africa are stupid and voted for Mandela because they thought they were getting a washing machine?

[rodeodance]

42. No. i did not say that. And if that is what you got then you have a Reading comprehension problem

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

65. Are you Geoff Elliot?

Or have you got a reading comprehension problem?

[anamandujano]

84. "Obama's share price is soaring on expected future earnings."

If he really does make it to office, most people are going to be saying, "Oh shit, I bought at the top."

[Blue_State_Elitist]

79. Yep he's perfect!

[Forkboy]

6. What candidate doesn't act that way?

Why do you insist on seeing that kind of stuff from only one side?

And besides, it isn't bad thing anyways. I had the same thing said about me playing goalie, and I HAD to be that way to be any damn good. So do the candidates, Hillary and Obama BOTH.

Talk about a vacuous argument. :eyes:

[ruggerson]

dupe

[Forkboy]

25. Shit yeah. My friend said I was a frickin' Barbapapa in net.

And a Barpapapa could change into anything. Anything, man! :P

http://www.barbapapa.fr/gb/catalogue/introduction.html

Of course it helps if you're old enough to remember this silly shit like me and my friends do.

Hell, I don't brag about my many hidden talents, but I will on this one. I was awesome. :D

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

28. Barpapapa, holy shit.

There's a blast from the past.

[Forkboy]

36. We're just old.

:(

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

64. You'd be a lot older right now...

if you were waxing nostalgic about reading those books to your grandkids.

[Forkboy]

68. Gotta have my own kids first...and that isn't happening.

Love the little buggers, but my cat is enough. He's crazier than box of frogs.

[ruggerson]

12. yeah, but you were a GOOD goalie

:P

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

7. After The Undefeated Run He's Had He's Turning Into The New England Patriots...

...and we all know how THAT turned out!

:rofl:

[AX10]

48. kick

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

51. Owwwww!!! Take It Easy Pal!

:P

[kid a]

8. i'm surprised you didn't get tombstoned today

this thread is your typical filth

personal attacks based on "some might say" smears...

pathetic

[sniffa]

10. pssst

:hi:

[Quixote1818]

29. You can say that again. nt

[Radical Activist]

73. Nah. He's likeable enough.

[Catherine Vincent]

76. She posted a link.

The Obots do it all the time.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

11. More brilliant reporting. How do you find the time?

[rodeodance]

13. HA HA--good catch. thanks

[bluestateguy]

16. And you just take ABC News' "analysis" at face value?

Ah yes, ABC News, that gave us the "Path to 9/11" miniseries.

[rodeodance]

19. you Obama folks sure like ABC when they rip Hillary!--HA HA

[C_U_L8R]

17. Consider the source

did they demonstrate or prove this "cockiness" or is that just their "commentary"?
The amount of bullshit going around is reaching Clintonian heights.
That's commentary right there as well. : - )))

[rodeodance]

43. ha ha--you laugh and start a zillion threads when abc disses Hillary. have fun eating this one!

[underpants]

18. Just go ahead and call him uppity for crying out loud

we all know where they are headed with this

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

26. yep, he dares to step out of his "place"

amen, its typical media crap.

Never forget who owns the laimstream media.

[Faygo Kid]

27. Exactly. Doesn't he know his place?

What a load. I'll take some of that confidence in my Dem candidate, thank you very much, after all the apologies the Dems make.

[Stuckinthebush]

32. Oh, god!

That's it isn't it?

Good catch, UP.

"He's so...so....uppity!"

[hedgehog]

35. THAT's the word I was looking for! Good catch, Underpants! nt

[calico1]

37. Bush is cocky as Hell.

Is it racist to say that? Can only whilte people be called cocky and it not be a racist comment?

I see a lot of similarities between Obama and Bush as far as the smug, cocky, arrogant attitude.

Obama is far more articulate and doesn't sound like an ass when he talks though. That is the big difference between them to me.

[underpants]

59. To many no only white people can

Sad to say

[shayes51]

22. And this cocky attitude will not play well against McCain.

[rodeodance]

24. AND NEITHER WILL THIS:

Forum Name General Discussion: Primaries
Topic subject Obama's first coming
Topic URL http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x4540643#4540643
4540643, Obama's first coming
Posted by rodeodance on Mon Feb-11-08 04:55 PM




I think this Oz author raises some valid questions that we should all critically think about.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23182456-28737,00.html

Obama's first coming

Washington correspondent Geoff Elliott | February 09, 2008

IT was early 1994 when Nelson Mandela gave a speech in a slum outside Cape Town and spoke in grand terms of a new beginning and how when he was elected president every household would have a washing machine.

People took him literally. A few months later he became South Africa's first black president. That's when clerks in department stores in Cape Town had to turn people away demanding their free washer and dryer.
.......
How does a cult figure, in the eyes of some something akin to a messiah, make the transition to a political frontrunner - president even - where disappointment will soon crush what seemed to be a journey to a promised land?
Looking into the faces of a more than 16,000-strong crowd in a basketball stadium in Hartford, Connecticut this week, the Mandela magic I'd seen before was there too. Black and white, and the youth; they appeared in a state close to rapture watching Obama speak. Here and there one could see women crying and the some men wiping away tears too.
.......
In the US today there are echoes of that Rainbow Revolution. Through the media and on the streets people are getting a bit giddy over Obama. In this man they are projecting a new course - one that he says he will lead - where the US buries the culture wars, charts a new course in bipartisan politics and heralds a new dawn for America. ......
........
And therein lays the danger for Obama. The Obama shuttle has made it into orbit but at some point he's going to have to land this thing back on Earth.
.........
But the danger remains for Obama in managing the cult-like fervour. Obviously, he's no messiah and lofty expectations of his supporters is something that Obama is also acutely aware of. In stockmarket parlance, Obama's share price is soaring on expected future earnings. Clinton, 20 years in the public eye, is like the industrial conglomerate: steady share price and reliable dividends. Think of Obama as Google and Clinton as General Electric.
.............
"We can do this," he told ecstatic supporters on Tuesday night. "It will not be easy. It will require struggle and sacrifice. There will setbacks and we will make mistakes."
But then Obama, in the next sentence, in attempt to appeal to more voters out there, didn't even mention the Democratic Party but instead his "movement" saying: "I want to speak directly to all those Americans who have yet to join this movement but still hunger for change: we need you. We need you to stand with us, and work with us, and help us prove that together, ordinary people can still do extraordinary things".
.........
In his Super Tuesday speech Obama said "we are the ones we've been waiting for", attempting to make the case the time was now to get some "change" in Washington: a post-partisan world where politicians reach across the aisle for the common good. "This time can be different because this campaign for the presidency of the United States of America is different," he said. "It's different not because of me. It's different because of you."
.......

"Rather than focusing on any specific issue or cause - other than an amorphous desire for change - the message is becoming dangerously self-referential. The Obama campaign all too often is about how wonderful the Obama campaign is."
I hear that too in the voices of Obama's staff constantly, themselves referring to this "cult of Obama".
"Even if he doesn't go all the way, and I'm not being defeatist, I'm so thrilled to be a part of this and see the size of the crowds turning out," one staffer tells me.

.........
. He may well build an unstoppable momentum. And then the giddiness might evaporate and be replaced with something else. In marketing they call it post-purchase disappointment. If he gets the Democratic Party's nomination another test begins anew: how to turn the narrative which is all about striving for what is possible, to one where people are suddenly asking how are you actually going to do it?

[Franks Wild Years]

31. "I hate Gooks!", "I love Bush", "100 years in Iraq!" "Bomb Iran!"

Might not play well with the many, many voters wanting a President with no ties to arguably the most unpopular outgoing President in living memory.

[Catherine Vincent]

77. Actually McCain is very cocky.

Can't stand him.

[mtnsnake]

30. Have you ever noticed that the better he is doing, the more cocky and arrogant he gets?

I sure have, and not just lately. It's a real turnoff that will catch up with him.

Even the night he told Hillary she was likable, that was a sure sign of arrogance.

I'm glad you posted this, journalist. :thumbsup:

[Quixote1818]

33. The better he does is directly linked to how much people like you hate him.

because he hasn't changed at all.

[mtnsnake]

38. WTF are you squalking about? Can you possibly be that ignorant to confuse hate with reasoning?

I've never hated Obama, quite the contrary, and if you're too fucking much of a baby to see him take some justified criticism, then maybe you better go for a skin transplant because yours is a little on the thin side, pal.

[Quixote1818]

41. Me with thin skin after that outburst?

:rofl:


Sorry, I guess you don't hate him, you just think he is an arrogant jerk. My bad. :hurts:

[mtnsnake]

46. I'm not the one who got so bent out of shape that you had to lie about me

and say I hated Obama when that is the farthest thing from the truth.

BTW, you can always tell when someone is really pissed. They use those laughing smilies like you do. Lighten up, dude, it's not the end of the world that Obama is acting cocky and arrogant and you can't handle it.

[Quixote1818]

49. I apologize for putting words in your mouth. Sorry I misinterpreted your post.

It's clear to me that you are sincere that you don't hate Obama and I made a mistake. Peace?

[mtnsnake]

53. Hey man, thanks, and my apologies right back at you for obvious reasons

I've never had any problems with you that I know of Quixote, and that's why I was taken aback when you said I hate Obama. Anyway, thanks. As much as I might criticize him in the future for this and that, I will never hate him or anything close to that, that you don't have to worry about. If he gets the nod, and he very well might, I'll be very pleased and proud. I've often commented on how we can't lose with either one of our people. In the meantime, though, there's a primary race to be won...

Thanks again. I shouldn't have been so testy myself and I could've let it slip, but I just didn't want anyone else to read that and think I hated Obama. :)

[krabigirl]

55. Yes, it makes me nervous. Bush is also extremely cocky.

I don't like cockiness.

[mtnsnake]

56. Well, as long as Obama doesn't start smirking in the next debate, I suppose we can put up with it

:evilgrin:

[JackORoses]

34. is this all a faux journalist can scrounge up?

he's too confident! waaaaaaaah!

[Eurobabe]

66. he's a

she. And she's up to her usual Obama bashing. :eyes:

[Raine]

39. So?? If that's the worse they have

to say about him :rofl:

[hedgehog]

40. It's 7:01 and with 0% of the vote in, two networks have called

Virgina for Obama.


Now, that's cocky!


(The networks I mean, not Obama!)

[Catherine Vincent]

80. LOL!

[cooolandrew]

45. I am bemused I never called Bush arrogant because if you're running for pres you have to have ego...

...It's leader of the free world you wouldnt' be anything else if you are running for that. No-one humble would run for that postion by nature. Every candidate that has run has ego so not sure of the charge really. Unless they were applyhing for monk or nun. I have seem him confident but not so confident he doesn't take the time to show he cares.

[Hoof Hearted]

67. I agree absolutely, all of them have 3XXXL size egos, but the less green ones have mechanisms for

keeping it in check, at least in public.

Obama is a very smart man. I agree that he cares deeply about the country, especially the lower middle class, the less fortunate and the working poor that make up such a huge chunk of this country. He does however dance across the line from confident to arrogant/cocky whatever you want to call it. I hope if he's the nominee he finds a way to reign that tendency in a little.

[polpilot]

47. He is amazing!! It's like a fairytale sometimes!!!

[Diane R]

50. I suppose you want him to take humble pie lessons from Hillary?

[cottonseed]

52. Pretty common for any candidate beating the tar out of their opponent.

Who wouldn't be confident?

[rainbow4321]

54. HRC's camp/supporters even more so...especially in TX.

They've already had quotes in Dallas' paper that Obama doesn't stand a chance in TX because, unlike HRC, he has never been "south of San Antonio" (way to piss off this North Texan, guys...what are we, chopped liver?)and that the Latino population love Bill Clinton "more than the Catholic Church".
Let's see, what else...oh, yeah, the head of the TX HRC camp said that Obama's followers were only "upward moving yuppies and African Americans" who don't worry about economy issues when voting and that HRC has a lock on blue collar/lower income voters.

The HRC people down here seem to be getting a little too cocky. But, hey, that's OK, better chance of them getting sloppy (or **sloppier**, given the primary results so far) and TX going to Obama!

[Ronnie]

57. What Dallas paper?

We read the Dallas Morning News every day, and we've never seen these quotes. Not one of them.

[rainbow4321]

69. Online Dallas Morning News

I've posted both articles here in GD;P with links to the articles that have the quotes. You can either search for my recent posts in the last few weeks here or use the search engine at the DMN online site. Here is the article that has the "south of San Antonion" and "Catholic Church" comments:

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/politics/national/stories/021008dnpolhispvote.3a7ea5e.html


And here is the one about the yuppies and African Americans:


http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/washington/stories/013008dnmettexans.18ac01d.html

------------------

And in true repuke rag tradition, the one positive article that DMN had online about Obama getting "help from a former classmate" in Texas..the link shows "article no longer available".
Just my opinion, but given the face that it IS a repuke rag, they are trying to push HRC down our throats while dissing Obama because they know if HRC makes it to the general election, repukes stand a better chance of winning in November.

[Ronnie]

82. Uh, so you don't know

that they endorsed Obama? Hmmmm....

[rainbow4321]

88. Couldn't tell by their articles

Every one has a clear anti-Obama slant/wording. And I have my opinion on why. As a repuke rag, they would want HRC to be nominated since she is more likely to divide Dems and alienate moderate repukes/independents lose to the repukes in November.

They can put "We endorse Obama" in as big colorful font headline as they like..doesn't mean much if what is under that headline is day after day after day glowing HRC articles with HRC camp spin/cockiness as the paper then questions Obama's leadership, qualifications, and voter base appeal.

[NOLALady]

60. Sigh.

Cocky + Arrogance = Code Words

[FrenchieCat]

61. You mean OBamby?

:wow:

[MagsDem]

62. Don't worry Obama peeple

The media won't really start tearing him down until it looks like he is going to win it. Then he is dead meat, of course.

[Renew Deal]

63. I'd rather be whatever Obama is right now

That whatever Hillary is.

[Schema Thing]

74. defeated?

[DemGa]

70. Yes he's arrogant; he's a three year junior Senator running for Pres.

I think only a narcissist would run on so little experience.

[anamandujano]

85. and lots of coporate money propping him up.

Before he got the big Keynote Speech (which is what is typically said to have made him an overnight Rockstar). B.O. passed the audition with the Washington-Wall Street nexus. He had to get vetted by the corporate-imperial players. Some of that is detailed in "Barack Obama, Inc." by Ken Silverstein (Harpers), which you can read online at

http://www.harpers.org/archive/2006/11/0081275

[mzmolly]

71. He'll be an "arrogant, drug abusing terrorist" before we know it.

But, I think he can overcome? Doesn't anyone need a certain "arrogance" to run for President? Sheesh!

[Catherine Vincent]

72. uh oh

I called him that a while ago. I hope they don't read DU because I did not want that description to stick.

[moosen]

75. Obama does come off as smug most of the time

to me it's very off putting. I know his supporters cling to him like crazy, but I've always been able to see through these types.

[Catherine Vincent]

81. He's stuck up.

I can always tell.

[Blue_State_Elitist]

78. It really does make it harder

for me to imagine supporting him in the general.

[qwlauren35]

83. How else do you get to be president?

Only the most arrogant, self-confident people in America can run for the presidency and have any kind of shot in h*ll of winning.

Hillary Clinton is an amazingly self-confident person. And there have been days when she's looked pretty cocky to me!

Please let it go. We're getting so close to the end. I just want the bickering to be over.

[yellowcanine]

86. So you will accept the report's description at face value? Would you if they said Hillary's

mood is morose?

[Skwmom]

87. That's funny. I heard him saying remember N.H. (as in I think we will

but remember N.H). Doesn't sound cocky to me.

[VotesForWomen]

89. correct; and a whole lot of dems are in for a fall. nt