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.
It isn't your acknowledgement that it was a good speech that aroused suspicion.
In one statement you state you are in agreement with him on several statements he made, though you failed to offer specifics. Then you state he is a leftist and are in disagreement.
You stated if it was Kerry vs. Obama you would vote for Obama. That Obama would win if he were the candidate against Bush. Very little is known about Obama so I find the praise extravagant as well as dangerous.
You qualified you were to the right of Reagan, usually done to establish conservative credentials.
Then stated race wasn't an issue for you, which struck me as odd since race isn't an issue for most people on this forum.
As I said, if I'm wrong I apologize. Your response struck me as odd, still does.
Report from my husband and daughter watching CSPAN after the convention had ended and delegates in the hall were speaking to the CSPAN microphones from the floor of the center.
They told me two different delegates talked about Obama but called him *Osama* accidentally, then corrected themselves.
They came in the office to tell me (I had OD'd on the coverage already) so I could report on FR when a THIRD person did the same thing.
Hmmmmmmmmmmm, I think I see a teeny problem with the dems' new potential star.
I see we completely disagree on this. After 36 years of following American politics as a conservative Republican and political junkie, my take is different then yours. You never, ever allow the loyal opposition to run a candidate for a seat in the US Senate unopposed. Never! Statewide election, maybe. In local community elections it happens all the time. The GOP needs to find the best candidate and run with him or her.
I agree with many here that Obama looks like a threat, but what will bring him down is "native" African-Americans who will be sour about Obama reaping the benefit of all the affirmative action they think is supposed to be payback for their ancestors' suffering from slavery.
Sure would like to hear Obama talk about reparations, wouldn't you???!!!
The media was saying exactly the same thing about Mario Cuomo after his exceptional keynote speech during the Dims '84 convention. He seemingly came out of nowhere & said exactly what the dims wanted to hear 'cause they were desperate, just like now.
He got alot of mileage out of that one speech, but in the end one speech got him nowhere. Just like this guy.
People just do not like liberals.
I've seen him interviewed and I was quite impressed.
Was not nearly as impressed with his speech - same tired old playbook and allegations.
The problem with this theory is that the timing is wrong. Obama, who had been catching up to Hull for weeks, made massive gains after the Dem debate on February 23, besting Hull by about 19 points. Hull's divorce records were unsealed in early March.
Obama, it should be noted, was also not the machine candidate. That was Hynes. And who won in Hynes own ward? Obama, 2 to 1.
It's not dirty tricks that's propelling this guy, it's politics.
And one more thing about Jack Ryan. The problem wasn't that his files were released. It's that everyone knew what was in them, everyone knew they were going to be released, and yet he kept on insisting to the public and the party that there was nothing embarrassing in them. Stupid, stupid, stupid. I have very little sympathy for the guy.
See my post #62
I can see an Edwards-Obama ticket coming up in 2008. Maybe we'll need to run Rice on one half of the ticket ourselves.
I thought he didn't live up to the hype.
I don't think the GOP can beat him and he will enter the Senate not knowing how strong he is and more importantly he will remain politically untested until 2010.
Based on the initial information you have provided I would say he does bear similarity to Clinton.
That is why conservatives need to react rationally. We were given a gift. Obama could have blindsided us a few years down the road. Instead the Dems tipped their hand now. It is time to analyze how Clinton rose to power. To study the ineffectiveness of the attacks against him, and formulate a strategy to neutralize Obama.
Hysteria is a hindrance to that mission. It would only lead to furthering his political rise. I'm not worried at the moment for precise reason we have time to counter the threat.
Not on your life. With no GOP senate candidate (even a sure loser) and no chance of a Bush win, you can kiss some GOP house seats goodbye. Definitely Crane, and maybe even big names like Hyde and Hastert.
This is about more than this race. We need to do what's best for the whole ticket.
Oh for pete's sake. It was not.
I agree with the many here who were impressed by him. His speech was VERY strong. Even conservative commentators on Fox were wowed. Whether we agree on the issues or not is largely irrelevant. Much of politics is in the presentation and his presentation is impressive. He shouldn't be underestimated.
I didn't think we disagreed on that point.
Again, find the best candidate and run with that person, win or lose. Don't let this guy run unopposed.
Nobody here has "race issues" either, and your insinuation that others would is well off the mark.
Why don't you name some of the "points" he made that you agreed with.
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