Commentary: Barack Obama/John Kerry is the Best Presidential Ticket for Democrats in 2008

[Mass]

I know: we would prefer the ticket in the opposite order. And no, I am not endorsing this ticket, far from it.

Now, take a deep breath. Forget the very defensive reflexes we have when it comes to Kerry and consider what an endorsement this is for Kerry.

Somebody from Rainbow PUSH is endorsing Kerry to be the experienced and knowledgeable side of a ticket where Obama would be the top of the ticket. I somehow doubt Kerry would go for that, but this is a wonderful acknowledgement of his skills. Cheer up. Kerry will never been considered as cheerleader number 1 (this is not his type), so it is good that people recognize his strengths.

Now, if his team would want to show his other strengths, including how he connects to people, may be we could get people look at him as top of the ticket. For example, what about showing what he has actually done for poor people throughout the years, what he has done for the environment. Not expect people will find by themselves, showcase all these strengths he has.

http://www.blackamericaweb.com/site.aspx/sayitloud/mathis1027

Commentary: Barack Obama/John Kerry is the Best Presidential Ticket for Democrats in 2008

Date: Thursday, October 26, 2006
By: Judge Greg Mathis, Special to BlackAmericaWeb.com

After months of speculation, U.S. Senator Barack Obama has finally admitted that he is thinking of running for president in 2008. The first term senator from Illinois says he’ll make his decision after the November elections. This announcement didn’t surprise many. Obama’s name and the word "president" have been linked since he wowed the nation at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. In fact, it seemed Obama was the only one saying he wouldn’t run for president.

Now that his tune has changed, the criticisms have begun: His challengers have repeatedly said Obama doesn’t have enough experience working on national policy; he doesn’t have any experience working on foreign policy. To some degree, this is true. But, over the years, many presidents have lacked certain skills. To compensate, they chose a running mate to fill in the gaps. If Obama chooses to run, U.S. Sen. John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, would make up for any holes in Obama’s experience.



Obama, once a community organizer and civil rights attorney, spent many years fighting for the needs of the poor. In his current role as a senator, he focuses on bringing jobs and economic growths to Illinois. Obama understands the needs of the average American and has worked tirelessly to make sure they have access to the opportunities they need to succeed. Kerry, on the other hand, brings a different set of experiences to the table. Currently in his fourth term as a senator, the Massachusetts Democrat is considered one of the country’s most respected voices on national security and international affairs. Combined, Obama and Kerry represent a political ticket that fights for the rights and needs of all Americans while, at the same time, realizing America must work closely with other nations to advance a global agenda.

Kerry would have won the 2004 election if it hadn’t been stolen from him. Ohio, the state that gave President Bush the electoral votes he needed to win a second term in office, reported many voting irregularities. Election officials in that state reportedly failed to process registration cards Democratic voter drives generated, and mostly Democratic precincts didn’t receive an adequate numbers of voting machines.

...

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Judge Greg Mathis is national vice president of Rainbow PUSH and a national board member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

[JI7]

1. didn't this guy use to have one of those judge judy type shows ?

i agree, considering how shitty the media is, this is very good in that is acknowledges some of Kerry's strengths. he really is one of the best when it comes to discussing national security and international affairs. everytime these issues are brought up you hear names like Biden, McCain, Hagel, Richardson and some others. but they almost never mention Kerry. yet Kerry is far better on this than almost anyone else. all you have to do is listen to them, especially on the foreign relations committee where you can actually compare them.

and yes, it would be nice if his people would show off his strengths in the other areas.

for those who actually watch his speeches he is able to tie in all of these issues without getting off onto something else entirely as Biden does. whether it's about the environment, national security, economy, he can take questions on some other subject and apply it to the main top he is discussing.

[politicasista]

9. Yes he did

I remember he campainged for Kerry in 2004. He slammed the Bush administration and FEMA hard over Katrina.

[TayTay]

2. I think it's too early to be making this type of judgment

Sen. Barack Obama is one talented politician. I believe he has a bright future in the Democratic Party. However, he is not a vetted and tested candidate on the national scene. He has not been through the crucible of national politics. He ascension to the US Senate was in a virtually uncontested race. There is no proof that he could withstand the rigors of running nationally. It is an unknown.

Should Sen. Obama decide to throw his hat in the ring for '08, good for him. He will undergo an amazing amount of scrutiny, attract an unbelievable amount of Rethug hatred groups and smear specialists and have to survive in the nastiest political climate we have seen since McCarthyism in the 1950's. No one can possibly know how he will do in that type of climate. Obama himself doesn't know.

Such early speculation is worthless. I suppose it fills the column inches for a newspaper, but it is essentially content-free speculation. No one knows anything at the point in time. All things are on the table. There are no definites, no absolutes and no knowing what will actually happen. We do not know these candidates now, not like we will after they have been on the road for a few months, asnwering questions, facing skeptics and being forced to defend their lives. That very process will challenge them, change them and discomfort them. And it will make all speculation, this far out, seem silly.

[cadmium]

6. I generally rule out untested Pols -- On the other hand

I wasn't that familiar with Obama's past work. If he has been as involved with civil rights as Judge Mathis says he is I want to know more. PS I don't care who is top or bottom of the ticket when speculating this far away. Unfortunately after primary season the VP pick is usually just a political/geographical add on rather than the best person.

It is good that Mathis is thinking this way.

Picture him on daytime TV sentencing Dick Cheney for drunken shot-gun shooting.

[politicasista]

10. I agree, it is too early n/t

[beachmom]

3. I'll address JK as downticket for a moment

Let's put all egos to the side for the moment.

If the only way we can get him in there is as a powerful Vice President (hate the comparison, but with the amount of power as Dick Cheney), then that is FAR better than nothing. If that means implementing all the plans he has set forth then that is not so big a loss, for the country anyway.

But it would involve not being the president, and nobody is going to forfeit that right now. I will say this, though -- if he doesn't make it in the primaries and is tapped as an incredibly knowledgeable statesman for the #2 spot, I think he should take the job. We need him.

[cadmium]

4. Yes. I agree

I would like a reverse but either way it would be powerful and most importantly ---- A step forward for the GOOD FOLKS.

We are on the verge of proving in Massachusetts after 16 yr Republican governors that good people can win.

[Mass]

5. I agree, but what I find more interesting in this article is that it is positive to

Kerry.

There are not a lot of articles that show Kerry's strong points, so, this is worth noticing.

For the rest, it is awfully early to speculate on these types of issues, except for fun.

[karynnj]

7. I agree totally with your point

It's good to see him praised so highly. Whether Obama is just the flavor of the month or not will be seen. It is true that he is pretty untested. He also wasn't as clear cut a winner till Ryan imploded and the Republicans had no real candidate to face him.

His speeches are great and he is a very attractive candidate. He does have more substance than Edwards - he was a civil rights lawyer and University of Chicago Professor and a state Senator. If Edwards can be a serious candidate, so can Obama. He can claim a life time concern on the issues that Edwards has claimed as his - based on talk more than action. I think both will look like school kids next to Kerry in a debate.

[wisteria]

8. Kerry in the Chaney roll as the real president making the important decisions?

Obama, the photo-op leader? Usually, VP's have very little influence. I wouldn't want to see Kerry go for this position though. It is however nice and interesting that Obama isn't being coupled with Clinton.

[sandrakae]

11. Nah, I t hink John Kerry/Barack Obama is a better ticket.

[politicasista]

12. Wanted to respond to the ABK snark

but it was hopeless. :(

[wisteria]

13. You should of expressed your opinion anyway.

Your opinion is no less valuable than theirs. Maybe others are waiting for someone to defend Senator Kerry. Maybe some people need to be educated about what Senator Kerry has done for the AA community and what Clinton actually did not do for them.

[politicasista]

14. Oh, I still did

in a non-threatening, but informative manner. I think some of them are trolls that whine about Democrats anyway, but it doesn't hurt to call them on their lies.

Some of them calling him "cold," and "rich" were so Rove-ish and it was even funny one was pushing Obama to pick McCain and put Edwards as a cabin member cause he would have beaten Kerry. What I wrote was how much foreign policy experience does Edwards have? No responses yet. :eyes:

Like Obama, just tired of the hype when we are trying to win back 06.

[wisteria]

15. Good! Real good. n/t

Don't you find it is getting easier to pick out the trolls?

[politicasista]

19. Sure do n/t

[ginnyinWI]

16. it would drive the Right crazy.

They'd have the big scary liberal as Vice-President (you know, the latte-sipping one with no spine who can't make up his mind--the one they thought they'd narrowly escaped from), and our first black man as President--(and you know how scary that would be!)

:sarcasm:

But on second thought, I want them scared--turn about is fair play to make up for the eight very scary years for us!

[MBS]

17. I've been reading this thread and I've been trying to be open-minded

here, and sorry to be a wet blanket, butI can't even get through this as a hypothetical scenario. gosh, we've been through this movie (with the "helper" vice-president) already, and we all know how that's turned out. It's high time we had a deeply experienced person in charge-- someone truly equipped to handle the job--and not rely on a vice-president to provide the president cue cards behind the scenes. I like Obama, and, sure, he's smart, and an attractive person, and sure, he'd be far better than W or Cheney (who wouldn't?), and maybe in a decade or so, he'd be a great president, but, as of NOW, or even in 2008, but he's not even close to ready to be president. If there were to be a Kerry-Obama ticket, Kerry is the appropriate man to head the ticket, not vice-versa.

I'm sure hope that we, as a party, and as a country, can make some truly adult choices in 2008, and use adult criteria, like experience, depth, flexibility, curiosity, knowledge, wisdom, to make those choices. We've got some bigtime, totally grown-up problems to solve, thanks to the multiple disasters of the W. presidency, and it's high time weelected the best possible person -- not just the media sensation of the moment-- to help us solve them.

Given the way that Kerry has been going the last year, I think that events, and good sense, will take their natural course, and this and other candidate-rescue-fantasies will seem quaintly passe by the time 2008 rolls around.

Again, 2008 is going to be a VERY different election than 2004, and the 2006 election is already providing hints of the direction of the change. All the conventional wisdom about which issues and which candidates are "electable" and "winnable" are going to be turned on their head by 2008.

[politicasista]

18. I think one hurdle besides the media

is winning back those who felt "betrayed" or "abandoned" because of the concession. :shrug: I have left replies about election reform, but the sentiment is still there.:shrug:

[benny05]

20. Who would Choose Barack at the top of ticket? n/t?

[karynnj]

21. He actually been mentioned by many in the MSM - including the cover of Time

It would seem to me that he would be better to get more experience - but he has been a civil rights lawyer, a law Professor at the prestigious University of Chicago, and a state Senator.

He is eleoquent and he is an attracive candidate.

[benny05]

22. He's from my state

But to be truthful, I've written or called him quite a few times. I've only gotten one response.

;(