I am NOT a fan of Obama's

[Horse with no Name]

However, was wondering about the fray about him throwing his hat in the ring for 2008.
He did NOT throw his hat--he answered a question posed by Russet-face.
He was deliberately vague which he should have been when asked the question.
"I" think he is too much of a centrist for my taste, but he is not unsupportable in my opinion--such as Lieberman or Richardson.
However, with that caveat, he is working with Moveon to raise money for the 2006 candidates--thus showing that he isn't just about his race in 2008, which is commendable.

Here is the email I received today:

Dear MoveOn members,
Every day you face personal tests in your life—at work, at home and in how you relate to those around you. Today I am writing to ask you to face the test you have as a citizen—to commit yourself to a cause larger than yourself.

With just 13 days to the election, there are candidates who need your support. They are challenging the politicians in Congress who steered America in the wrong direction. Can you chip in $20 to support them?

I have been traveling the country to support candidates in close races. I have met many of these candidates and they will be great leaders.

As a citizen, you have a choice between two different paths.

One path is easy. When you turn on the TV or open the newspaper and hear about all the trouble in the world you could walk away from the stories about Iraq or poverty or violence or joblessness or hopelessness.

Just turn it off and tune out. That would be the easiest thing in the world to do. There will be pundits and politicians who will tell you that it's someone else's fault and someone else's problem to fix.

I am not one of them.

There is a second path. This one is more difficult. It asks more of you. It asks you to not just pursue your own individual dreams, but to help perfect our collective dream as a nation. It asks you to realize there is more to life than being rich, thin, young, famous, safe, and entertained. It asks you to recognize that there are people out there who need you.

I already know you are headed towards the second path—you are part of MoveOn. One easy thing to do right now is to throw your support behind candidates running in close races. Can you do that with a $20 contribution?

When you choose the second path—when you choose to broaden your ambit of concern and empathize with the plight of others, whether they are close friends or distant strangers—it becomes harder not to act; harder not to help.

Please contribute.


Thank you.

Barack Obama

[cautiouslywaiting]

1. I like Obama

but I think it's too soon for him to start thinking about running for president. I'm glad he's helping out with Moveon. Maybe he could become the Senate leader first and then run for pres?

[Horse with no Name]

2. While I think he has spent too much time

keeping his powder dry for his own run in 2008, Majority leader would squelch all of his chances.
There is a happy medium in there.
I don't think he is ready yet--but, as I said, he isn't unsupportable. Who knows what the pulse of the electorate will be in 2008. He may be the perfect guy at that point in time, however, right now I don't see it.:shrug:

[cautiouslywaiting]

3. I don't see him in 2008.

It just seems wrong to me for him to run after less than a full term in the Senate. But it depends on who decides to run. I definitely can't support John Kerry again.

[EST]

4. When Obama was a senate candidate, I supported him

enthusiastically. I have been less than enthusiastic about any presidential run.

I, too, have felt that he lacks a certain polish, gained, apparently, through the rough and tumble of hard-fought campaign or two.

The giddy attempts by the talking hairdos to get a fight started, as early as possible, leaves me somewhere between embarrassment and outrage.

However, without dismissing the subject outright, I decided to do some thinking and I find that my unease about Obama the presidential candidate is not so well grounded as I thought.

He certainly has no problem with age-experience, as Bill Clinton and Jack Kennedy were both younger than he would be when they took office and I don't think either of them could be considered unqualified.

The better times this country has experienced have been under younger, democratic presidents.

He is a bit too centrist for my tastes, especially with the center having shifted so far to the right, but leaders with family/child responsibility as recent experience tend to be a bit more connected and have a greater propensity for compassionate solutions than do creaky ancients who've spend far too much time becoming a highly polished tooth in Washington gears to suddenly adopt a family/human context for their calculations.
If I am, for the sake of argument, willing to suspend my preconceived notions, I begin to find that the idea is not that far out.

With the inferior bush as a comparison, almost anyone can look good, and we have so many bright, intelligent, capable people and I hate to see any of them miss a chance to achieve their lifelong dream, but the future of the country is at stake and choices must be made.