Posted on 07/27/2004 7:51:30 PM PDT by jmstein7
One rival politician from his home state of Illinois has called Barack Obama "the Tiger Woods of politics."
But that comparison is unfair - to Obama. The 42-year-old U.S. Senate front-runner and Tuesday night's keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention is having a much, much better year than the struggling golfer.
Obama's already been the subject of a publicity avalanche that's included a 5,744-word profile in the New Yorker - not bad for a politician who's never been elected to anything higher than the Illinois state Senate.
Bidding to become just the third African-American since Reconstruction to win a Senate seat, Obama has been leading by 20 percent in the polls - and that was before his original GOP foe dropped out because of a lurid sex scandal.
Even before the balloons and confetti were swept up from his Democratic primary victory in March, the Chicago Sun-Times wrote: "If he is elected in November, Obama will immediately replace Colin Powell as the person most talked about to be the first African-American elected president of the United States."
Who the heck is this guy? Here are 10 things you might want to know about Tuesday night's star, Barack Obama.
1. He has a remarkable bio - one that prompted the Democrat's 2000 keynote speaker, Harold Ford Jr., to call him "an American story."
His father was a Kenyan - also named Barack Obama - who was studying economics in Hawaii and later left for Harvard and then his home country, never to return. His mother was an 18-year-old white woman from Kansas. Her second husband was an Indonesian oil manager, so Obama spent part of his youth in Jakarta.
His family struggled, but Obama went to Hawaii's top prep school, then Columbia and Harvard Law School, where he was the first African-American to edit the law review.
2. His first name means "blessing" in Swahili. On the campaign trail, he wins voters over by joking about his unusual name and says that it rhymes with "Yo Mama" - although he steers away from its rhyme to a certain Middle Eastern terrorist.
3. He declared that Iraq didn't have ties to al-Qaida or weapons of mass destruction - back in 2002. The same autumn that candidates John Kerry and John Edwards were voting to authorize President Bush to go to war, Obama was speaking at anti-war rallies.
"I am not opposed to all wars. I'm opposed to dumb wars," he said two years ago.
4. He can be candid about his past. In 1995, he published his autobiography, "Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance," and admitted that as a teenager he experimented not only with marijuana but with cocaine.
"I guess you'd have to say I wasn't a politician when I wrote the book," he told the New Yorker. "I wanted to show how and why some kids, maybe especially young black men, flirt with danger and self-destruction."
5. He's very supportive of Bill Cosby's recent controversial comments about African-American teenagers, their parents, and black popular culture.
"I understand the basic premise that Bill Cosby was talking about, and I think he's right about it," Obama said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "There's got to be an element of individual responsibility and communal responsibility for the uplift of the people in inner-city communities."
6. When asked, he says he considers himself an African-American. "The reason that I've always been comfortable with that description is not a denial of my mother's side of the family," Obama told the New York Times. "Rather, it's just a belief that the term African-American is by definition a hybrid term. African-Americans are a hybrid people. We're mingled with African culture and Native American culture and European culture."
He added later: "If I was arrested for armed robbery and my mug shot was on the television screen, people wouldn't be debating if I was African-American or not. I'd be a black man going to jail. Now if that's true when bad things are happening, there's no reason why I shouldn't be proud of being a black man when good things are happening, too."
7. He's unapologetically liberal. After law school, Obama shunned white-shoe law firms and worked as a community organizer in a poverty-stricken Chicago neighborhood.
As a state lawmaker, he pushed for death-penalty reforms and an end to racial profiling. He also pushed for health-care coverage for children.
8. He's not only a good candidate, but a lucky one. The man he was supposed to run against, Republican Jack Ryan, dropped out recently when unsealed divorce papers said he had dragged his wife, TV actress Jeri Lynn Ryan, to sex clubs. Possible replacement candidates, like former Chicago Bears football coach Mike Ditka, have shied away from taking on Obama.
If he wins in November, Obama will become only the second black Democratic senator, after Carol Moseley Braun, also of Illinois. Massachusetts elected a black Republican, Edward Brooke, in the 1960s and '70s.
9. He's ready for prime time, but apparently not on the major broadcast networks. ABC, NBC and CBS, which used to offer wall-to-wall convention coverage, didn't televise the convention at all Tuesday night.
When Obama took the stage around 10 p.m., the networks were airing shows like "Last Comic Standing" and "Navy NCIS." But you could catch the speech on the major cable news channels or C-SPAN.
10. He really could end up in the White House. Why not? He's not only brilliant and a good public speaker but has movie-star good looks and a great story to tell. He's a bit to the political left, but some pundits already see Obama drifting to the center.
Illinois state Senate President Emil Jones recently told a youngster at an event that if his parents voted Obama into the Senate, then he would have a chance to vote for him for president someday.
You know, that kind of BS does nothing. I AGREE that he's a leftist NUTTER. Given the choice of him or Kerry, who do you vote? It's obvious to me.
Very fruity.
Obama is an oily scumbag who I predict will have all the staying power of Pokemon
***
How do you know he is a scumbag?
It takes a big person to acknowledge a person of talent and most likely substance......time will tell.....belittling resolves nothing!
No,Obama will win one term in the U.S. Senate and then be elected Gov. of IL. He will run for President in 2012.
>>Forgive me if my suspicion if inaccurate, but you've shown wild enthusiam for Obama.<<
Uhm, no. Not hardly. I said he gave a GREAT speech.
I read up on his politics and found him to be a leftist. I don't agree with that. My point is that if we had to tolerate a lefty in office, he'd be better than Kerry.
I am not now, nor ever going to suggest that we elect or support lefty redistributionists into office. My point is that he's a lesser evil.
Furthermore, to suggest I'm giving this douchebag "wild enthusiam" is a misguided attempt to slander me. I DON'T like him. He gave a GREAT speech. Did you watch it? I wish Bush could give such a speech. It'd seal his re-election. This guy nailed it.
Why does that question my conservatism to recognize it? *boogles*
As a conservative, I would vote for neither.
Obama said the following in his speech tonight.
"Tonight, we gather to affirm the greatness of our nation, not because of the height of our skyscrapers, or the power of our military, or the size of our economy."
The power of the US military is what has kept America free and is the #1 reason why we will remain a free people. That's what Reagan believed. The day America devolves its military to a second class status, is the day we America will no longer be great bastion of freedom and liberty. Eight years of Clinton proved that. We can't afford eight years of Kerry or Obama!
Punahou is where he went to school. I took some summer classes there and went to swim meets there.
I disagree. Unlike Clinton who who absolutely infuriates me with his slick salesman schtick, Obama comes off as being passionate and "genuine". As a conservative, I would have no idea that is a far left winger, had I not known about his voting record in Illinois. He sincerely believes in socialism, unlike Clinton who believes in whatever is good for Clinton.
A little tidbit I'd like to point out. During the Illinois primary season, there were 4 or 5 candidates running with Barak Obama in the democratic primary. The frontrunner was a rich guy, I believe named Blair Hull, who was running ahead of the pack. Suddenly, Blair's divorce papers were outed stating that he had hit his wife. Obama denied any involvement in the outing of this information, but outed it was. Blair plummeted in the polls, and Obama, who had been running second was suddenly catapulted into first place, and went on to win the democratic primary. Jack Ryan won in the Republican primary. Now it was Obama vs. Jack Ryan in the general election. Now, and once again, Jack Ryan's divorce papers were outed, with Obama once again claiming that he had nothing to do with it (the Chicago Trib sought the divorce info through the courts, and got a liberal judge in California to release them). Ryan ends up quitting the race because of the outing of the divorce papers, and Obama is now the only candidate in the race for Illinois Senator, and it appears will win due to the lack of a viable Republican substitute candidate (Mike Ditka turned the opportunity down). Therefore, twice, because of divorce paper outings, once with Blair Hull and once with Jack Ryan, Obama has gained first place status and will most likely, barring any fluke, become the Illinois Senator to fill Republican Peter Fitzgerald's seat.
Now, with Blair Hull's outing, you could call it as just a lucky break for Obama. However, along comes Jack Ryan, and the same thing happens. You can call this coincidence, but in politics, I don't believe in coincidence. I see the fine hand of Barak Obama and his henchmen, facilitating the information leaks of the dirt on both Blair Hull and on Jack Ryan. After all, who benefited most by both of these "coincidences"? Obama. He, of course, has plausible deniability, but I'm not buying it. I smell another Slick Willy in the making. Don't you agree?
So you want the GOP to just capitulate to the librats. LOL Come on. That's ridiculous. That would turn Obama from a statewide star to a national figure in the DemParty.
No teaming-up with Hillary?
Lucky my ass. He was a benificary of the democrat/judicial/media slime machine.
If you think making fun of his name will be enough...
If you think you can lump him in with nutjobs like Jesse and Al...
If you think that describing him as "fruity" is clever or useful in the face of his sophistication, good looking family, and church-going image...
...then, quite frankly, you're high, and I hope you share some of what you're smoking to help us all get through the years he spends in the White House down the road.
Do not, do not, DO NOT underestimate this guy. (And stop harping on his name, it just makes us seem small-minded.)
Interesting...(I didn't see the convention tonight.) So we may be finished with the Clinton Dynasty after all?
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