Posted on 12/11/2006 2:33:11 PM PST by jdm
MANCHESTER, N.H. – With standing room crowds chanting for the star to show, Sunday's Democratic fundraiser could have been a rock concert. But it was only Sen. Barack Obama's first visit to the nation's first primary state.
If Senator Obama should jump into the Democratic presidential primary, where he is now ranked just behind Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York in recent polls, Democrats in the land of retail politics wonder if there's a living room big enough to hold the throngs who'd come to hear him.
"Right now, he's a rock star. Getting 1,500 people out on a Sunday afternoon ... says something different is going on here," says Jim Craig, former Democratic leader in the New Hampshire House.
So what's driving Obama-mania?
It isn't a single set of issues such as the war or the economy. Rather, the attraction seems to be a mix of Obama's own compelling personal narrative and many voters' desire for a less caustic brand of politics.
"It's the sense that you're in the presence of someone who is touched with the gift of grace," says Ross Baker, a political scientist at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J. Obama, Illinois' junior senator, exemplifies the hope that there's some way to triumph over the intense polarization of American politics, he adds.
A barely known state lawmaker and community organizer in Chicago, Obama shot to superstar status after an electrifying speech at the 2004 Democratic national convention in Boston. With a father from Kenya and a mother from Kansas, he embodies two racial cultures deeply at odds in American history.
(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...
He's just a symptom of the bankruptcy of the IL Republican Party.
Dread that Hitlery would lose is a major driver of Obamania
They did the same to Adlai Stevenson when I was a kid. He never went anywhere.
The hype of Obama is media driven as everyone here seems to understand. Fox has it on Brit Hume's show right now...and Ms. Clinton actually loves this because he will stand beside her as the vice presidentual nominee with her as the presidentual nominee. The Dims are as sickening as they are stupid. We we are in the midst of a worldwide war and the big deal is a beginner in the political arena and total empty suit on anything that would make him a viable candidate. He is one thing bigtime...an arch liberal way to the left. Look at his votes so far and you get all you need to know.
And, all along, I thought he was Tiger Wood's half brother. Now, someone tells me he is not, and I am heartbroken. I missed his speech at the Democrat convention, because I'm a Republican and was not invited. Anohter vicious rumor being spread is that he was Hillary's houseboy in Arkansas, but I cannot verify that. He needs to consult with Harold Ford immediately, as his family has vast experience in politics and they are very religious too. I just hope the media stops searching for bad things to say about this man. He is a rising star, and let us hope that he doesn't 'nova' before the big 2008 shindig.
Sheer hysteria.
The Dem'crats have been realizing they were on the wrong side of history for a while, and now it looks as if one of the constituencies they nourished for a long time, the feminist crowd, got one of theirs into a high position ready to take a serious high prize.
But wait, Herself, the Cold and Joyless, is not showing up so well in all the focus groups. Quick, reach down in the bag, and drag out another constituency, this time the African Americans. But where to find one that sounds half-way educated, that is not leaning to being a Republican? Ah, here is one, got a pretty good profile, speaks well, and is not handicapped with that nasty undercurrent of being a descendent of some slave ancestors. And it turns out he has some Muslim antecedents, this just keeps on getting better and better, from the point of view of the mainstream media and the money men behind the power structure. This is almost a DOUBLE token, not just an admixture of real African, with a history of white liberal on the maternal side, but one that was also Islamic on the paternal side, how better can we show the Islamic caliphate of the world that we mean them no harm, than to exalt a son of their culture?
With Dem'crats, perception and posture seems to be everything. Because there sure is no substance there.
Ooo they wanna take us down the Marxist Road
It's for the common good
We'll shift to Village Mode
Unless you Just Say No!
Way down the Marxist Road
What's special about Obama? Well, how many reptiles do you know that can smile?
I'll first admit that I haven't the first clue what the magic is with this latest media darling. I am, though, impressed by his strikingly savvy ability to milk his fifteen minutes of fame past all reasonable expectations. The man is without significant accomplishment, is as big a phony as walks the halls of congress, and would do great harm to this country. The clips that I have seen, from his N.H. visit, show him without a nectie, and that really pisses me off. By next week, we'll be treated to footage of this do-nothing with no suit coat and his shirtsleeves rolled up ala The Breck Girl. Why do politicians insist on all this "I'm just one of you poor, hard working stiffs" symbolism?
99.5% of black vote?
He will need a felony conviction on his resume to pull that off.
Obama is a media creation, pure and simple!
Never will a black man run second fiddle to a white woman.
It is perhaps the only thing that could enrage black voters into abandonning their mindless devotion to Democrats.
Every now and then his true self comes to the surface - I just heard a reporter ask him if he thought people would avoid voting for a black man. His response was yes, but "those were the people who don't agree with my politics either."
Implying of course that all racists are from the other side.
He's doing as well as Oprah's other book club picks.
Hell, if he can play a guitar and sing too, we ain't got a chance!
This is, after all, from a society that gushes about Michael Jackson's "talent"!
I am rarely serious, except when I speak against liberals.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.