The most impressive thing about Obama to me

[Toucano]

might actually be the great way he has handled and managed all these mini "gates" and fake crises.

In the past, the Democrats haven't always done that very well, particularly the Clintons. All too often, they allowed minor scandals to become distractions from the work. I think that was largely due to Bill's psychological based need for approval.

One example I remember was Jocelyn Elders' statement about masturbation that created so much controversy, and resulted in her dismissal as surgeon general. Had Pres. Clinton reacted differently, it wouldn't have been nearly as controversial.

When I imagine a similar "controversy" in an Obama administration, I see him saying, "Yes, that's what she said. Next question." and getting back to the business of governing.

The crap they try to throw at Obama just doesn't stick. I don't only mean it doesn't affect his polls or voters, but it actually doesn't seem to affect HIM!

I think that's a tremendous attribute and give credit to this long campaign (and the Clinton campaign) for allowing him to demonstrate that attribute.

[yellerpup]

1. That's why he's ahead.

:kick: K&R!

[stellanoir]

2. I love the way in which he pretended to dust off his shoulders and pants

after all of that idiotic baloney.

He's got great humor and great style.

Someone else would just throw another sink.

[Toucano]

3. Yes, and that didn't seem "staged" or affected at all.

It seemed perfectly natural -- organic even.

That outlook is very refreshing to me.

[truedelphi]

12. I started out very reluctantly supporting Obama

Then he made that tremendously heartfelt, very real and totally honest speech about race.

When any other politician would have followed the safe strategy and announced that they were no longer supporting Rev Wright.

As Jon Stewart said the next night, "At eleven o'clock on a Tuesday morning, an American politician addressed the Amerian people on the topic of race, and spoke to them as though they were adults."

Obama had me at Hello on that one.

[Bensthename]

4. He would handle foreign leaders very well. Kitchen sink'ing them wouldn't work

He is the one you want dealing with a crisis..

[Ice-9]

5. I think that explains a lot of his natural appeal to voters.

I don't dislike Senator Clinton (and I would vote for her if she were the nominee), but she is basically the politician of least resistance. She is not willing to take the kind of risks that I think Senator Obama is willing to take. The Wright speech was a good example. Senator Obama essentially said, "Reverend Wright said some things I disagree with, but I still think he's a great man, and I'm not going to disown him." Likewise, he essentially said of his grandmother, "Yes, she harbors some prejudice, but I still love her more than anything." It was a message of sympathy and understanding that recognized the complexity of our social problems in a forthright manner. It was also a speech that carried a number of rirks. It was not a foregone conclusion that Americans (or at least white Americans) would take to a speech that did less than throw Reverend Wright under the bus. For that reason, it was also a speech that I really cannot imagine Senator Clinton making. If Senator Clinton were in the same situation, I would expect her to categorically endorse the safer character (presumably the white grandmother in this scenario), categorically reject the riskier character (presumably the black preacher), and then plaster over the whole situation with platitudes about racial progress, etc.

In the end, they are both politicians, so you have to expect that there will be some fudging (e.g., I think they have both fudged on NAFTA, which I don't expect either of them would really try to change if they were elected), but Senator Obama seems less inclined to sacrifice the truth to score cheap points.

[izquierdista]

6. Politicians and panderers

Obama is a politician who sometimes has to explain things that are difficult and try to reconcile two groups with opposing views. Hillary is a panderer who figures out which group has more vote potential and then sucks up to that group, while throwing the other group under the bus.

Welcome to DU :hi:

[Ice-9]

8. Well said,

and thanks for the welcome! I'm a long-time lurker, first-time poster.

:toast:

[bunkerbuster1]

19. Good post. Welcome to DU.

Hope you've got your hip-waders on, you'll need 'em until the nomination's settled.

[mdmc]

7. I liked the way he out campaigned the clintons

:toast:

[Arugula Latte]

9. It's like judo or some sort of martial art. Turn your opponent's force against them.

Hiii-YAH!

[NorthCarolina]

10. self delete (duplicate) n/t

[NorthCarolina]

11. While I support Obama

from the perspective that he is the least offensive of the three remaining candidates, I must say that in listening to his campaign speech going on this afternoon in PA, I really dislike his response to a question about the Federal Reserve. Unlike Obama, I don't think the Federal Reserve is working, and I am a firm believer that the Government needs to take control of the issuance of currency back from them.

[truedelphi]

13. The ONLY politican that I know of to correctly address the question of the Federal Reserve

Is Ron Paul.

I don't even think that Kucinich adddressed the issue.
If we are to have a Central Bank, than IT MUST be a bank that pays no interest to outsiders.

For more info on the Fed, go to http://tinyurl.com/2zfgcb (remember this was an institution that obstensibly was used to prevent bank panics - yet as it came into being in 1913, only sixteen yrs later we had the Mother of All Depressions.)

What the Federal Reserve did in that instance was prevent small time bank managers from defrauding their customer base. From 1913 to 1929, It did that in a totally admirable way. Only problem is that while it was doing that it was also setting up the biggest run on the banking system ever known to humanity. And the biggest payoff of the Great Depression was for the people most involved with the Fed!

[NorthCarolina]

14. Paul isn't the only politician to address the Fed, he is just the most recent

President Kennedy signed Executive Order 11110 returning minting of US currency back to Congress. Of course he was assasinated shortly after signing it (odd coincidence), and Johnson declined to pursue it, although neither he nor any subsequent President has rescinded it.

[truedelphi]

16. I had heard broad statements abt Kennedy opposing the Fed Reserve

But not until your post did I ever hear an Exec Order associated with him and his stance on the Fed

[NorthCarolina]

21. Info of Executive Order 11110 is accessible on the web n/t

[truedelphi]

22. Much thanks!!

:hi:

[burythehatchet]

15. Then you have seen the true brilliance of his campaign.

He and his team are masters of strategery.

[goletian]

17. he needs to be as good as it as the far right

simply dismiss the questions as absurd insinuations and move on to the next question. people will talk about how scary that is for a day or two, then forget all about it and itll never be asked of them again. then only conspiracy theories will talk about it online, but the media wont touch it.

[BlooInBloo]

18. He's very, very smart - and he has to be, to beat the republicans twice.

EDIT: Added to subject line.

[Petey Wheatie]

20. Putting religion and racism in the same box is not a fake crisis....

...it's political suicide. And he did it, and he stands by what he said. Wise up.

[Triana]

23. Absolutely. How they handle their respective campaigns is an indicator of....

...how they might likely handle the Presidency. And I am also impressed with Obama's handling of the shit that has been tossed at him - and his entire campaign, really.

[krkaufman]

24. The thing I notice is that Obama doesn't respond with equal negativity ...

... and so whatever damage may be done to him, more is done to his opponent. Just witness Hillary's plunging polling numbers since she's gone heavily negative, in comparison to Obama's only slight, temporary drops.

The Clintons, though, only know the attack game, and so are doomed.