By JAKE TAPPER, with ANNE-MARIE DORNING and MARK REEVESPosted on 12/11/2006 12:09:50 PM PST by Diago
By JAKE TAPPER, with ANNE-MARIE DORNING and MARK REEVESDec. 11 - After a rocking visit to N.H. this weekend, an appearance tonight on Monday Night Football is the latest sign that Barak Obama is running for president.
"We've got a series of very important decisions to make, and we have the opportunity to make them not as Republicans or Democrats, but as Americans," he said in a speech that mentioned health insurance, climate change, lobbying reform and the war in Iraq.
Quoting Martin Luther King Jr., Obama said, "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.
"It doesn't bend on its own," he added. "It bends because each of us individually, we put our hand on that arc, and we bend it in the direction of justice. That, I think, is the essence of hope. And that is what I think America is hungry for, right now. And I'm looking forward to being a part of that process, with you of bending that arc in the direction of justice."
The excitement Obama is generating among crowds in this first-in-the-nation-primary state could be bad news for his possible Democratic rivals, including Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., the presumed frontrunner.
"I was behind Sen. Clinton prior to getting to know Barack Obama," said New Hampshire resident Kim Cain. "I'm a woman. I would love to have a woman president. But I think she's too much of a politician. I think to effect change, we need somebody outside of that system."
But there is much voters do not know about Obama beyond his charisma and message of national unity. And the process through which the American people may learn more about Obama -- his relatively unstudied state legislative voting record, his teenage cocaine use, questions about a land deal he entered into with a questionable character -- may be unpleasant. And new.
"Sen. Obama has never had a rough political week in his life," said Lynn Sweet, a columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times. "He's never had one negative commercial run against him."
Before another event today for the state Democratic Party in Manchester, at which he was the featured speaker, Obama himself downplayed the voter warmth and the media heat he felt in chilly New England.
"I am suspicious of hype," he said. "I think what's going on is that people are very hungry for something new."
ABC News asked what he would say to voters who may ask what right he has to think about running for president just two years out of the Illinois state senate. Obama said that since he had yet to make up his mind about whether he was in the presidential hunt, a rebuttal would not be forthcoming.
"I don't mind people asking tough questions; I think they should of every candidate," he said. "One of the values of retail politics like New Hampshire is by the end of the process they know where you stand, and they have a sense of who you are."
Leading Democrats say this is not all just hype, and that Obama, should he decide to run, will be a force.
"If I was part of Hillary Clinton's inner circle right now, I'd be worried about Obama," said Democratic strategist Donna Brazille. "He has the ability to raise money. He also has the ability to tap into a vast network of activists."
Obama supporters point out that his mere existence brings out Clinton's greatest vulnerability as a public figure -- likeability.
His staffers jokingly say, "Don't tell mama I'm for Obama."
"Mama," of course, is Clinton.
It may be, as Clinton allies argue, that Obama does more to hurt the other Democratic presidential hopefuls, such as John Edwards or John Kerry, than the powerhouse Clinton.
Either way, Obama will leave New Hampshire tonight setting a pretty high bar for visits to the Granite State, especially considering he'd never even set foot in this state until late Saturday evening.
MNF has become a complete disgrace. Kornheiser is a fairy who must go before I will ever turn on another Monday Night game.
Good. Hillary needs competition.
I hear he will be singing the new Democratic Christmas Carol, "He Came Upon A Midnight Queer".
OBAMA is an OBAMANATION!
Who writes this ABC rubbish?
The media are going to build this fellow up and up , then rip him to shreds.
It so pissed me off when they had Spike Lee on for the Saints MNF game a few months ago.
Barack Hussein Obama
see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama
NFL ping fodder.
Looks like I'm not going to watch MNF tonight, either.
Mrs. Clinton's overlords know how to make a Foley out of Hussein.
Other than the fact that the Obama represents the state the Bears play in, I can find no reason whatesoever to have him on MNF.
When Peter Fitzgerald was Illinois' Senator, was he ever invited to appear on a MNF game when the Bears were playing?
I doubt it.
This is all a bunch of hooey. I hope they put Madden and Michaels back on MNF next year. Theismann, Kornheiser and Tirico vacillate between boring and inane.
I DON'T KNOW WHY I LOVE HIM
(From the musical, "Barack Obama Superstar")
Tune: "I Don't Know How to Love Him"
I don't know why I love him,
My Barack, my Obama;
I've been charmed, yes really charmed,
By his trim physique, so slim and sleek--
I'm awed by his mystique.
I don't know why he's running,
I don't see any substance;
No real plan, flash in the pan,
And I've heard such empty words before
That when I close my eyes
He's just a bore.
But I like his face,
And I like his voice;
Makes my heartbeat race!
Makes me feel all moist!
I never thought I'd come to this:
Obama is my choice.
Don't you think it's rather shallow
I should vote for this fellow?
I'm the one who's always been
So pure, so pissed, so feminist;
I don't need men, oh no--
He scares me so.
But I like his face,
And I like his voice;
Makes my heartbeat race!
Makes me feel all moist!
I never thought I'd come to this:
Obama is my choice.
Yet, like in a romance novel,
I'm in love with a male model;
I've got to look!.He signed my book!
My heart runs wild! I'll bear his child!
I want the world to know:
He's my "Big O"!
Obama, go!
I love you so!
It appears that Mr. Obama has the ability to speak, not say anything, and have people love it.
Typical Democrat: Talk is precious; action is cheap.
It took three people [JAKE TAPPER, ANNE-MARIE DORNING and MARK REEVES] to write this article? LOL.
"I hope they put Madden and Michaels back on MNF next year."
I agree 100%
Has a nice ring, don't it? /s
Regards, Ivan
Sounds like something Bill would say.
"The media are going to build this fellow up and up , then rip him to shreds."
Nope. He is not a Republican. They didn't do it to Clinton, why would they do it too him? I think the Drive By Media acknowledges that Hillary! can't win. Obama is the next best thing.
I believe what used to be MNF is now SNF, and what used to be SNF is now MNF. It's still Football and it's still Monday night, but....
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